Ten Years After
by Eqgz
Summary: Tokyo 2018. Will the fragile balance between the human world and the digital one grow stronger or was it something not meant to be? The decision might rest with one young woman and her partner-- and her lover.
1. Dinner

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**Disclaimer:**

**Most of the characters herein are trademarked by Bandai and/or Toei. This work is derivative of season 3 of the Digimon television series (Digimon Tamers) and is in no way meant to imply ownership or infringe on any trademark or copyright.**

**Author's Note:**

**This is a sequel to the story begun in **_**Wild Card **_**and****continued in **_**Aces**_**. Read those first if you haven't already.**

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Ten Years After  
by Eqgz

Chapter 1  
Dinner

Sakuyamon's staff hissed through the air as she swung a powerful strike at my head. I got the point of my spear up just in time and there was a screech of metal-on-metal and a shower of sparks as the staff was deflected upward enough to miss me. I lunged for Sakuyamon's unprotected stomach with the butt of my spear and she twisted in the air just enough to make it miss her. I saw the muscles in her belly tighten and knew that her staff would be impacting on the back of my head in a fraction of a second if I didn't do something instantly. I twisted my wings, one upward and one downward to spin me around and I felt the point of her staff take a tiny notch out of the edge of my right ear as it whistled past. Not a perfect dodge-- but good enough. I continued my spin and twisted back out of close contact.

_I can't mess around any more,_ I thought. My fur stood out all over my body and crackled with the strength of the electrical charge as I raised a gigantic pulse of attack energy and directed it into my spear. She saw it coming but I hoped it would be too late for her to counter or dodge such a powerful attack. The white-hot jet of energy sprayed from my spear point and Sakuyamon did something completely unexpected.

She pointed her staff directly at the stream of energy and spun the haft between her palms. The top metal circle blurred into a sphere that was just the perfect shape for deflecting my energy burst. The resulting spray of blinding light hid her from me for an instant and I didn't know if she had managed to avoid all of the blast or not. Then I saw the colorful forms of her Spirit Foxes curving around the fading glow and knew the answer.

They came at me from all angles and in an irregular pattern that prevented me from striking at all of them with a simple spinning attack. I spun my spear into a tight figure eight anyway and twisted my upper body enough to change the blade's path enough to get all but one of them. The last one arrowed in at my face, confident of a clean strike and I let it get within a hand's breadth before I jerked my muzzle sideways and snapped my jaws shut on its neck. Its fragments tasted like strawberries.

I whipped the point of my spear around and it clashed musically with the end of Sakuyamon's staff. We hovered there for a long moment, weapon locked against weapon, before I grinned and relaxed.

"That was an awesome block!" I told her. "Was that a spur-of-the-moment thing or have you been practicing behind my back?"

"I've been thinking about it for a while but I never got a chance to use it until now," she told me.

A shadow fell across us and we looked up to see a FujiTech lifter gliding overhead. The lenses of dozens of cameras glittered from the windows of the cabin.

"Damnit," I cursed. "They're _way_ too close to us! Someday a dirigible full of camera-hounds is going to catch a stray blast of energy and they'll blame _us_ even though we've told them a thousand times--" I realized I was talking to myself. Sakuyamon had flown off while I was distracted by the blimp.

I sighed unhappily. Our sparring match had been a really good one-- the best in a long, long time. I had hoped that Rika was opening up a little more and now the damned paparazzi had chased her away. I flew up close to the dirigible, tucked my spear in its sheath on my back and waited until I was sure every camera was focused on me. Then I pulled the lower lid of one eye down as far as it would go and stuck out my tongue at them all. Yeah-- childish-- but I was pissed off.

Then I flew up to the top surface of the airship and jumped around on it with a lot of force for a while. It must have rattled the bozos around like peas in a half-empty can. Did I mention that I was pissed off?

I dropped back down and shouted at the passengers as they were staggering back to their feet, "Remember _that_ the next time you want to get in the middle of a digimon fight!"

I knew I was going to regret it later but at the time it felt very satisfying.

-o--()--o-

A couple of weeks later, on an absolutely beautiful spring day, I was perched on a rooftop above Hibiya Avenue letting the warm breeze ruffle my fur and watching Sakuyamon kick the snot out of a Dark Tyranomon. She was being positively flashy about it and I was enjoying the show immensely.

The crowd was getting a bit too close (as usual) and Sakuyamon was having to use her Spirit Foxes to protect the people more concerned about getting good photos than with their own safety. Elecmon was helping out by stinging the Dark Tyranomon with a blast of electricity whenever it looked like it might step on or bash into something irreplaceable.

I glanced over at the Sony Tower to see the close-ups. The whole north side of the building had cleared of ads and program feeds to display several views of the battle. There was an info crawl at about the eighth story giving the stats of both combatants. In Sakuyamon's case it was hardly necessary-- everyone in Tokyo knew them by heart. A second crawl was giving alternate routes to those commuters who would rather get to work than watch digimon fight.

The Big Ugly reared back as it readied an attack and the picture-in-picture inset of Sakuyamon switched to an extreme close-up of her face. Her lips curved upward in a smug smile. The crowd began to murmur in anticipation.

The poor, dumb thing never had a chance. I don't know why, after all these years, we still get the big vicious types coming to Earth from the Digital Dimension. They ought to _know_ the fate that's waiting for them but there's a legend circulating that claims that if a digimon defeats and absorbs the data of one of Earth's "Protectors", they will acquire all the powers of a Sovereign, so they still keep trying-- the superstitious twits.

"I'm done with you now.  
Trouble my city no more,  
You stupid lizard!"

Sakuyamon whirled her staff into a blurred disk and the crescent shockwave it projected lifted the Dark Tyranomon clear off of his feet. He flew backwards and all the people behind him were suddenly aware that a few tons of meat and metal were about to come crashing down on them. They didn't get any more time than it took to gasp in surprise before the second swath of energy fragmented the big lumbering dinosaur into a million red bits. There was a lot of relieved laughter and cheering as people began grabbing at the cherry blossom petals as they drifted down.

Sakuyamon swooped down to street level and I leaned over to get a better view. She landed next to a half-flattened Lexus that I hadn't noticed before. _Damn,_ I thought, _we haven't had anybody killed in a long time. It'll be a shame if--_

But it was okay-- the driver had been the only one in the car and it was only the rear end that was crushed. Sakuyamon peeled off the driver's door and helped him out. He thanked her profusely and begged to be allowed to take a photo of himself with her. He slipped an arm around her waist and flashed the "V" sign with his free hand as the shutters of hundreds of cameras clattered away like mechanical popcorn. The guy had just lost a car worth over 6 million yen and yet he was grinning from ear-to-ear. Fans-- go figure.

When Sakuyamon disentangled herself and soared up into the sky, I spread my wings and flew after her, matching her speed. "Heya, beautiful!" I called out to her, "That was very impressive!"

"Beating the Dark Tyranomon?" She sounded genuinely puzzled. "I could have done it in my sleep!"

"No," I clarified, "I meant _not_ clobbering that guy who groped you. Are you getting mellow in your old age?"

She laughed. "Maybe if his hand had slipped a few centimeters lower--"

We flew along in silence for a while, curving out over the ocean and then back toward the city.

"So--" I began hesitantly, "how are you doing lately? We haven't seen much of each other in a while." Sakuyamon knew I was talking to the half of her that was Rika Nonaka. Renamon and I were together at least part of every day and the two of them as Sakuyamon, I saw fairly often. But Rika-- Rika had been having a miserable time lately. Her Grandmother had passed away in the autumn and she had gone through a very bad breakup with Ryo not long after. Though most of the other tamers liked or at least tolerated all the media attention they got, Rika was a very private young woman and didn't like having her personal life splashed all over the tabloid web-- particularly the details that were unpleasant or painful. Aside from her duties as a Protector, she had pretty much hid herself away for the last half-year.

"No, we haven't, have we?" She replied, obviously dodging the real question. Renamon had dropped some not so subtle hints that Rika might like some more company around-- someone understanding that she could relax with. Takato and Jeri were spending every spare moment planning for their wedding, Henry and Susie were still on their good-will tour of China, and the other tamers were scattered around the globe, so that pretty much left me. Not that I minded in the least-- but Rika had shut me out along with everyone else.

"I'd really like that to change," I told here sincerely. "Why don't we go somewhere tomorrow? We could fly down to Okinawa-- find a nice private beach and have a picnic lunch or something."

She considered that for a moment. "No," she said finally, "I'd really rather stay in Tokyo but--"

I waited patiently while she continued to think.

"You haven't seen my new apartment yet, have you?"

"Only from the outside."

"Okay, then," she said with sudden resolve, "Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night?"

I was surprised but pleased by her invitation. "That sounds great," I told her.

"Good," she nodded. "Eight o'clock-- and use the front door like a normal person, would you? Don't come crashing through the balcony windows or anything."

-o--()--o-

Renamon met me that night on top of one of the giant wind turbines near the edge of the city. I had ordered a few digignomes to circle us at a respectful distance and guard against paparazzi. After so many of them had gotten their expensive cameras melted or vaporized you'd think they would learn not to intrude on my private time with Renamon but there was always one or two who thought it worth the risk. They were even more annoying than the violent Wild Ones-- probably because I couldn't _kill_ them. Every once in a while I'd take a particularly persistent one on a one-way trip to somewhere unpleasant like Siberia or Rwanda but they always seemed to find their way back home.

We snuggled together on the top of the generator enclosure and looked out over the city. So many new skyscrapers had gone up over the last decade that it looked like a forest of lights. The thrumming of the slowly turning giant blades behind us was a relaxing sound-- almost like gentle surf breaking on a beach.

"It seems like Rika is feeling better," I said to Renamon after a while. "If tomorrow night goes well, maybe I could fly the Wongs back for a bigger get-together on the weekend."

"I wouldn't rush it," Renamon said. "She will take her own time with this. You're someone she trusts and it will be easier for her to--"

"Oh come on!" I interrupted. "Are you saying she doesn't trust Henry? Or Takato?"

"No, but it's different with them. You were her partner once and that's still a strong connection between you." Renamon sighed and shifted in my arms. "She loves and respects Takato, of course, but--"

"Yeah," I said, gently running one finger along her cheek, "He and Jeri together reminds her of how happy she was with Ryo once."

Renamon nodded.

I bent my head and kissed her while my fingertip trailed tiny sparks along the line of her jaw. She slipped her hand inside my jacket and combed her claws through the fur of my chest. I let my hand drop to her side and stroked the velvety fur over her ribs, pushing a warm glow of data into my touch. Renamon made a soft, happy sound deep in her throat and pressed herself tightly against me.

We made love slowly and tenderly that night, taking a long time to craft our energy flows into subtle as well as pleasurable forms. I think it was because we both felt some melancholy about Rika's situation. Well-- that and the fact that if we really let go near any electrical equipment, we'd fry it completely and the generator we were lying on powered half of Shinjuku.

A few hours later we lay tangled together in a comfortable, tired heap. "I wish she could be as happy as we are," I murmured.

"I'm sure she will be," Renamon said. At the time I thought it was just a fond wish for Rika's future. Tesla save me from devious females!

-o--()--o-

The next night I wore my Rookie body when I knocked politely at the door of Rika's penthouse apartment promptly at eight and I was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted me as the door swung open.

Rika had stuck to her street-rat style of dress as she grew up and, much to her mother's surprise, fashions had changed because of it. Jeans and a faux baseball shirt were acceptable as eveningwear nowadays-- as long as the jeans cost over 30 thousand yen, and the shirt was made of nano-fiber and had a smartnet woven into it, that is. Rika had made a good deal of money from the very selective modeling she had done and the clothing lines she endorsed. "Elegant Tomboy" was what everyone called her habitual style. But tonight was different.

"Uh--" I gaped at the stunning vision in a liquid green nano-silk dress that greeted me in the foyer. Her long red hair hung to her waist, loosely gathered by two chrome digizoid pins that were studded with emeralds.

"I thought it would be fun to dress up a bit," Rika explained as she stepped back to let me enter.

"Wow," I finally got out, "You look-- _wow!"_

She blushed a bit and smiled, "Thank you." Blushed. Rika actually _blushed_.

I extended my senses and looked at her just to confirm it really was _my_ Rika and not some impostor but I could clearly see the digital web inside her that allowed her to biomerge with Renamon-- and I'd recognize that aura anywhere.

Then I saw Renamon. She never changed what little clothing she had, of course, but tonight she had added a sort of long shawl draped over her shoulders that was made out of a nano-silk very similar to that of Rika's dress but in a purple hue that matched her arm guards. It had to have been crafted by a master tailor to fit her non-human form and it made her look even more beautiful than ever-- something I wouldn't have believed possible. A pair of star sapphire earrings completed her outfit.

"Holy Tesla," I breathed, "You ladies are astonishing! And I-- am _really_ underdressed!" I transformed my scuffed old vest into an evening jacket. "Better?" I asked them.

They looked at each other and Rika wrinkled her nose. "A tuxedo just doesn't suit you, Coyomon. You look better in buckskins."

"Okay then," I said, "How about this?" And the tux became a set of full white buckskins, butter soft and beautifully beaded and fringed.

Renamon smiled with approval and Rika nodded. "Perfect! Shall we go eat?" She led us into the dining room where a lavish feast had been spread out.

We talked about all sorts of things during dinner, carefully avoiding sensitive issues. We got to reminiscing about old battles and our various trips to the Digital Dimension. Sometimes it was hard to talk about an adventure without mentioning Ryo or Cyberdramon directly but somehow we managed to do it.

After dinner we went into the living room for drinks and dessert. The wall screens of the room were displaying Tadashi Nakayama's horse prints and I paused to admire them.

"They remind me of digimon," Rika said from behind me when she noticed what I was looking at.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Colorful-- patterns-- I can see that. Jeeze! This one looks a little like Indramon, doesn't it?"

Rika laughed. "Oh god, it _does!" _She tapped her finger against the wall and the print faded away to be replaced with a different image. "I don't want My Bigdamn Pony glaring down at us all evening!"

That made me start with surprise. I'd never used that name for the deva out loud. I turned to Rika. "How did you know what I called him?"

"Hm? Oh, I read your journal. Renamon showed it to me."

I sputtered for a bit. Some of the things I had written about Rika in the early parts weren't very complimentary. "Uh-- did you-- I mean-- I never thought--"

Rika laughed at my discomfort. "Oh relax, Coyomon! You were very honest in that journal and that's something I value a lot. Besides-- you said some very nice things about me in there!" She stood up on her toes and kissed me lightly on my cheek and then said, "When you weren't calling me 'an appalling brat'."

Both Rika and Renamon laughed at my embarrassment then and I had to chuckle a bit myself. It was either that or slink off with my tail between my legs. We settled onto the low couches around the table and a tray of various sweets and a couple of flasks of sake rose from the serving port at its center. The sake was daiginjo-shu and the sweets included doughnut holes in addition to mochi and other traditional desserts. Rika had certainly put a lot of thought and effort into this evening together-- and I hadn't heard her laugh in a long time. That it was at my expense didn't seem to matter much. I was just glad to see her happy again.

Rika poured the sake for all of us and we lifted our cups.

"Kampai!" we all said together.


	2. Drinks

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**Author's Note:**

**Just in case it's not clear: The scene with Ryo is a flashback.**

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Chapter 2  
Drinks

Despite popular misconceptions about our metabolisms, digimon _can_ get drunk. It's just that most digimon don't care for drinking and higher-level digimon can negate the effects of alcohol if they wish.

Alcohol in moderation doesn't do much but slow reflexes and suppress inhibitions. For digimon, fast reflexes are essential to survival and I'm not known for being very inhibited in the first place, so I just enjoyed the taste of the fine sake while expelling the alcohol from my system.

Renamon was sipping hers with a delicacy that might have seemed a bit incongruous to someone who didn't know her well. The tiny cup nearly disappeared in the grip of her huge hand.

Rika wasn't exactly "knocking 'em back" but she wasn't showing any sort of lady-like restraint, either. She certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, so I didn't see the harm.

"Look," she said, shifting a sake flask to the middle of the table, "This is Indramon, okay?" Because of my comment about the Nakayama print we had started rehashing our old battles with Zhuqiaomon's devas. "And this--" she took a piece of mochi and pinched it flat on two sides so that it appeared to have big, flat ears, "--is Gargomon. Kyuubimon is this honey wafer and you're this doughnut hole and for Growlmon--"

Renamon reached out a claw and flicked the doughnut hole up off the table, then snapped it out of the air and made a big show of chewing it while grinning at me. I retaliated by picking up the honey wafer and licking it _ever_ so slowly while giving her my best leer.

This nonsense gave Rika a fit of the giggles. "You guys! I'm trying to arrange a battle here!"

"She's right, you know," I said to Renamon, "We can't afford to goof around. Emptysakeflaskmon is a terrible menace."

Rika threw a piece of mochi at me. I let it bounce off my chest and gave her a hurt look. "Owwwwwwww!" I whined.

"I'll 'ow' you, flea-bag!" Rika growled playfully and leaned over and punched me hard in the shoulder.

"Nice shot!" I told her, "Are you sure you still need to biomerge with Renamon to kick digimon butt?"

Rika's smile faded away and she got a strange look on her face. "I'll _always_ need my partners." There was a slight, uncomfortable pause and then Rika looked down at her lap and corrected herself. "I mean _partner_."

I reached over and took her hand in mine. "Hey, _tamer_," I said to her, "you don't need a plastic gizmo to call on me. You _ever_ need me for anything, you just say so."

She gave me a shy smile. "Okay, Coyomon, I need you-- to pour me some more sake."

"As you wish!" I intoned somberly and filled her cup. She drank it all in one go and held the cup out for more. I refilled it again-- not without a slight feeling of unease.

Rika took a sip and then looked down at her lap once more. "I know that it's been a good thing that you became Sovereign of Earth and I've always felt honored that I was one of the few humans to know-- but--" she stopped, sighed and took another drink.

"But?" I said, leaning over and poking my long nose under hers.

She snorted and shoved my head away but she smiled when she did it. "But there are times I really miss the old days when things were simpler. Remember when it was just the three of us together in the Digital Dimension?

"Lost, clueless, and in deadly peril? Yeah-- good times!"

Rika swatted me again. "They _were _good, flea-bag!"

"Yeah, I suppose so," I admitted. "They sure were _simpler_, anyway." I thought about it for a while and then made a suggestion. "We could go back for a while-- just the three of us. When Henry and Susie get back from China they can take over the protection duties and we can just take off. No Sovereign crap, no slug-fests-- we'll explore some of the new worlds that have been created recently. What do you think?"

"Oh god, it's tempting," said Rika, emptying her cup and holding it out for more. The flask was empty. She tapped a pattern with her fingers on the tabletop and, after a minute, two more flasks rose out of the serving port. "But what do you mean, 'no slug-fests'?" she continued after I had refilled all of our cups. "There's got to be some Mega level nasties in need of an ass-kicking somewhere over there that Kayamon hasn't finished off yet. They crop up like weeds, you know. I'm tired of all these stupid little show-fights!"

I laughed out loud. "That's the Rika I know and love! The terror of evil digimon everywhere! Okay-- we'll make it a _fighting_ vacation!"

"See?" Rika said to Renamon, gesturing with her cup and slopping some sake on the floor. "Coyomon _understands_ me! Everybody thinks I'm just some sweet, nurturing _'Protector'_. Nobody believes I _enjoy_ fighting! 'Guardian Goddess', my _ass!_ Stupid newsfeeds! Stupid tabliods! Stupid _Ryo!" _

There was a brief, shocked silence and then Rika dropped her sake cup and burst into tears. Renamon reached out to Rika but surprisingly it was me she clung to. She clutched at my shoulders and soaked my ruff with her tears while both of us stroked her back and made comforting noises.

-o--()--o-

"Ryo, you're an idiot!" I shouted at him as he jammed stuff into a small backpack.

"Fuck off, Coyomon," he yelled back at me, "this is none of your damned business!"

"The hell it isn't! Maybe she's not my tamer anymore but she's the best human friend I have and I don't want to see her hurt!"

"Her? _She's_ the one who's throwing _me_ out, you stupid coyote!"

"Calm down and _think_ for a moment! She doesn't mean it. She's just angry right now. If you go back in there and---"

"What, apologize? Tell her it's all my fault? Crawl back to her and beg for forgiveness? Like _hell!"_

That nearly shocked me into silence. How could he have spent so long with Rika and still be so totally clueless about her? "She'd lose all respect for you if you did that-- you ought to know that." I said quietly.

Dropping my voice to a near whisper had caught his attention and he stopped packing and turned to face me. "Then what the hell are you talking about?"

"Tell her you love her. Tell her you're not giving up on her. Sure-- go ahead and leave now, but call her tomorrow and ask her to talk it out. Yeah, there are a lot of problems with your relationship but most of them are because of outside crap. You _can_ work it out!"

Ryo glared at me and returned to his packing.

"Damnit, Ryo!" I exploded. "Do it for _yourself_ if nothing else! Where in all the worlds do you think you're going to find another woman like her?"

"A woman that finds fault with everything I do? One that starts a damned argument over every stupid damned thing that--"

"If you wanted a sweet little cream-puff you should have dated _Calumon!_ C'mon Ryo, it's all this stupid media pressure that's driving her crazy. _You_ love seeing your face plastered all over the web so you don't understand what it's like for her. When things quiet down, it'll get better between you two--"

"Shut up, Coyomon!" Ryo snarled, rounding on me. "I'm sick of your interference and if you don't get the hell out of here right now, I'll--" He made a preemptory gesture to Cyberdramon who had been crouching in the corner of the room, growling like an idling chainsaw, and I saw the biomerge energy configuration flash through his internal digital web.

I admit it. I lost my temper then. I whipped my bo staff out of my vest so fast that there was a loud crack as the tip exceeded the speed of sound. Ryo and his numbskull partner disappeared in a sparkle of black and white pixels.

"Shit," I said to myself as the dimensional portal slowly shrank. "I probably shouldn't have done that." I kicked Ryo's backpack into the portal just before it closed.

-o--()--o-

"I'm sorry, you guys," Rika said to us as she wiped her eyes, "I don't know why I lost it. Too much sake, I guess."

Renamon had her arm around Rika shoulders and I was holding one of her hands. "Nothing to be sorry about, Rika," I told her, "It's good to let out your feelings once in a while."

She sniffed and smiled up at me. "I ought to feel embarrassed. Rika Nonaka: Digimon Queen and big crybaby!"

I laughed at that. "Oh yeah! You're a real fragile flower of femininity, alright!" A brief flicker of a frown crossed Rika's face and she lowered her head and I realized I'd jammed my paw firmly in my mouth-- again. "I mean-- um-- not that you're _not_ feminine! I mean-- in that dress you look _amazing!_ You're beautiful-- just not-- _girly_-- you know-- I-- ah-- _shit!"_

Rika's shoulders started to shake and Renamon was making a strange sound deep in her throat.

_Oh god,_ I mentally kicked myself, _I've gone and upset the two people I love most in the world! _

Rika's shoulders shook harder and then she couldn't contain her laughter any more. Renamon covered her mouth with her hand but I could clearly hear her chuckles. I had a momentary flash of indignation and then I couldn't stop myself from joining in. We all totally lost it. As soon as one of us started to trail off they'd glance at one of the others and burst out in fresh howls of laughter. We laughed uncontrollably for what seemed like hours until we collapsed in a giggling heap between the couches and the table.

Rika looked around and reached up to tug on one of my ears. "God, I've missed you, flea-bag!"

"I'm here now, tamer-- and any time you need me."

"Well, I'm going to--"

Rika was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. One of the wall screens flickered and began displaying a map of Tokyo with a bright blue circular reticle moving jerkily across it. We all sat up and paid attention. The map zoomed in on the Katsushika District and the reticle spun and flashed, indicating a lock on the location of a bio-emerging digimon. Two red dots coalesced in the center of the blue circle.

"Two of them?" I wondered aloud. "Unusual--" I extended my senses but couldn't feel the prescience of the digimon. "They've got to be little ones," I told the others, "I don't sense much of anything.

"Probably a couple of Child-levels looking for tamers," Rika said.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I should go welcome them and explain the rules. They're probably standing in the middle of a street, gawping."

"I'll do it," Renamon said, rising to her feet a tad shakily. "No need to break up the party. I think I need some fresh air, anyway."

"Why, Renamon, I _do_ believe you're tipsy!" I chided her, playfully.

She lifted her nose and said coolly, "I most certainly am _not_." She enunciated each word with careful precision.

I gave Rika an 'uh-huh' look that set her to chuckling again. Renamon huffed and flipped her tail up in an indignant manner as she strode to the glass wall that overlooked the city. One of the panels slid aside and she looked back just long enough to give me a wink before leaping into the night.

I boosted myself back onto the couch and helped Rika to her feet. Then I flopped back and spread my arms along the back of the couch and plopped my feet onto the table in the rudest possible way. Rika shoved the scattered fragments of dessert and the sake sets back onto the serving port and it all sank away into the table. Then she plopped down right next to me and propped her own feet up on the table with a loud thump.

She snuggled into the crook of my arm and poked me in the ribs with a finger. "So I'm not a 'fragile flower of femininity', huh?"

I shook my head sadly, "Sorry Rika-- I think your killer right hook disqualifies you from _that_ club." I gazed down at her fondly. "You _are_ a very beautiful young woman though."

"Do you really think so?" she asked quietly.

I blinked in surprise at her. "Are you serious? Rika, you're drop-dead gorgeous! You don't have model agencies desperately hounding you day and night just because you're a famous tamer!"

Rika put her hands in her lap and fiddled with her fingers nervously. "I know-- but I mean do _you_ think so? You're a digimon so your ideas of beauty are different. I know you think Renamon is beautiful but she's a digimon too, so that only makes sense. I'm just a human."

I shook my head in disbelief. "That has nothing to do with it. The ugliest things I've ever seen have been digimon! I find you beautiful for the exact same reasons I do with Renamon. You're strong and graceful and you have an elegance and confidence about you that doesn't depend on what clothing or makeup you're wearing. That's _real_ beauty." She was gazing up at me with a strange, wistful expression. I just looked at her for a long time and then added, "And it doesn't hurt that you have the most gorgeous eyes--"

Her slow smile made me feel indescribably good inside.

"So," she said at last, "you still consider yourself my partner, huh?"

"Yup! Just give the word, tamer! I'm at your command."

"And if I wanted you to do something for me, you would?"

I nodded. "Sure. Anything, I promise," I said airily.

I've been blindsided many times in my life but nobody ever did it as utterly and completely as Rika did then. She reached up and placed her fingertips gently and hesitantly on the side of my muzzle. "I want you to kiss me," she said.


	3. Going With the Flow

Chapter 3  
Going With the Flow

I did a really foolish thing then: I kissed her.

I'd kissed several humans before that-- mostly other celebrities of various sorts and some overzealous fans-- all about as intimate as a handshake. None of them were anything like what I experienced with Rika. Maybe it was so good because there weren't half a hundred cameras pointed at us but I doubt that was the real reason for the difference.

Her lips were like velvet. There was no awkwardness, no hesitation-- our mouths just seemed to melt into each other, our tongues just lightly touching in a sweet, gliding caress. Our arms circled each other as we came together in a tight embrace and the rest of the world seemed to fade away.

I don't know how long that first amazing kiss lasted but my head was spinning by the time our lips parted and Rika lay her head on my chest with a sigh. I stroked the silky skin of her back where the dress left it bare and she made a soft, satisfied sound and slipped her hand inside my jacket, combing her fingers downward though my fur.

She lifter her face again and our second kiss was even more wonderful than the first. _Too_ wonderful.

Rika shifted her position as our kiss grew more insistent, knotting one hand in my ruff and pulling herself into my lap. The long muscles of her back tightened under my hand as she arched against me and I slid my other hand down over the sweet curve of her bottom before my brain took over from my instincts.

I lifted my hands from her body and took hold of her shoulders, pushing her away from me. Her eyes opened in surprise and she looked a bit dazed for a moment before puzzlement settled on her face.

"What is it?"

"Rika, I can't do this!"

"You were doing it quite well only a second ago," she pointed out.

"You know what I mean! Or you _ought_ to!" I said as severely as I could, considering I found my attention was wandering back to how her lips glistened in the light. I shook my head to clear it. (That never works, by the way.) "Rika, there's only one person in the whole universe that I love and admire more than you and if it there was any way--"

"Oh, you mean Renamon?" Rika said lightly, "Don't worry-- she won't mind."

There was something about the way she said it. It wasn't just an empty assurance-- she _knew_ something. My face must have told the story of the confused suspicions bouncing around in my brain because Rika grinned wickedly. She reached over and touched the edge of the table with a fingertip. A wall screen changed to show the map of Tokyo again and, oddly enough, it went through the same bioemergence detection sequence as before.

"Holy Tesla!" I gasped, "It's a recording!"

"Yeah. From those Kudomon last summer." Rika confirmed.

"You planned this? You _and_ Renamon?" That damned wink of Renamon's had been directed at Rika, not me!

She leaned closer, placing her hands on my chest. "Do you really think I'd do this behind her back? Even as drunk as I am now?" She made a wry face. "That wasn't part of the plan, by the way. I think I was trying to calm my nerves or work up my courage or something."

I was completely flabbergasted. About a thousand questions and comments all tried to crowd out through my mouth and I ended up just making "Eh-uh" noises.

"So--" Rika said, suddenly looking very vulnerable, "You know we both love you-- and, hell, we're the same person half the time. Don't you think we could--?"

Yes, I'm a fool. But I'm not _that_ big of a fool. I took her face in my hands and kissed her ever so lightly before saying, "Rika Nonaka, you are the most wonderful woman on the planet. I know I've told you many times how much I love you, but tonight I'm going to _show_ you!"

I indulged myself with another long, passionate kiss before I unfastened the neck of her dress. It slid down her body like falling water. Her breasts were a perfect match for her athletic physique, sleek and firm with two perfect rosy pink nipples. I placed my hand on her chest just below them and guided a small pulse of data through my palm and into her body. She gave a soft little gasp as my energy flowed into her digital net and I triggered the desired sequence.

There was a sudden sharp smell of alcohol in the air and Rika was instantly stone-cold sober. She _really_ gasped then and her eyes went wide as her world came into sharp focus. "I-- what did you--"

"I need to know that this is something you really want-- that you're not being influenced by the sake."

Rika stared at me while her aura flickered with little spikes of several colors before settling into a deep violet glow. She rose and her dress flowed away to the floor. She removed the clips from her hair and dropped them on the couch as I got to my feet and then she took my hand and led me to the bedroom as my buckskins swirled away like smoke on the wind.

-o--(1)--o-

Renamon returned to the apartment around three in the morning. She padded silently into the bedroom and stood looking down at Rika and I, smiling softly. Rika was deeply asleep, twined around me with her head on my chest. Renamon bent and stroked my cheek before gently kissing me. I gave her a look that was meant to convey something like, "Boy are _we_ going to have a conversation in the morning!" My meaning must have been clear because she gave me an unnecessarily smug grin.

She crossed to the other side of the bed and slipped smoothly under the covers, spooning against her tamer's body and softly curling her tail around both of us. Rika stirred, made a happy little sigh, and was quiet once more.

-o--()--o-

Rika woke up in the late morning and I watched with pleasure as she slowly focused on the world around her and smiled joyfully as she looked into my eyes. We kissed-- a long, comfortable sort of kiss that nevertheless made me stir with renewed desire.

"So the plan went well, did it?" Renamon asked.

Having a beautiful young woman break off a kiss with me because she was stricken with a sudden fit of giggles was a completely new experience for me. The tremors of laughter that ran through her body felt very nice and a person's aura never looks more beautiful than when they're laughing with joy, so I didn't begrudge losing the kiss-- _much_.

Rika half turned to face Renamon. "You were right about him getting all conscious-stricken," she told her partner. "But not until after the _second_ kiss."

"Is that so?" Renamon said, looking at me in a cool, evaluating manner.

"They were _really_ good kisses," I explained.

"Oh, well I suppose that's all right, then," she grinned at me, her façade of sternness dropping away.

Rika yawned and stretched, lacing her fingers together and lifting both arms above her head. (Which did wonderful things to her breasts, by the way.) "Ahhh, I'm starving! You gonna make me breakfast, _partner?" _she asked me.

"Just show me which buttons to press."

Rika and I ate like we hadn't seen food in a week but Renamon nibbled at her food in her usual dainty manner. Every time any of us made eye contact with another we couldn't help breaking out into huge grins.

I also couldn't help noticing that the meal included fresh doughnuts from the Matsuki bakery. Those two evil females must have been absolutely certain their little plan would succeed-- bless their conniving little hearts.

-o--()--o-

The next few weeks were truly magical. We didn't let on _why_ Rika had suddenly come out of her depression. Most people were wigged out enough by the thought of digimon having so-called "intimate relations" with each other let alone the idea of a digimon and _human_ couple.

Even as enraptured as I was with Rika, I didn't neglect Renamon. In fact, my lovemaking with her seemed even better than ever. Maybe it was the contrast-- the two of them were so different physically that there was no real basis for comparison. Both of them delighted me and the three of us were ludicrously happy.

In public, Rika and I still verbally sniped at each other as we had done for most of the years we'd known each other. It was an old, familiar game that we could play at almost without thinking. But each time we threw a verbal barb at the other our smiles were more than playful.

Jeri and Takato's wedding went off perfectly. There were nearly as many digimon present as humans and several had come over from the Digital Dimension just for the occasion. Even Kayamon was there as a representative of the other Sovereigns. There were photographers and videographers there from all the major news feeds. Takato and Jeri had decided that it would be better to allow a select group of them to be present rather than try to keep hoards of them at bay. There were still several unauthorized aircraft that tried to overfly the ceremony but I had arraigned to have a half dozen Ultimates guard the perimeter. Nobody got through.

"I don't see why you don't just burn a few of them out of the sky," Kayamon muttered to me. "Wouldn't that dissuade the others?" She had become Yasuramon's "troubleshooter", travelling to the most remote corners of the Digital Dimension where raw power and, frankly, _brutality_ were the only things that maintained order. It tended to influence her way of thinking.

I chuckled. "It might _not_. You don't know how persistent these paparazzi can be. Besides, humans as a whole don't react well to that sort of thing. They tend to see an attack against even a despised subset of their race as a threat to them all."

Kayamon shook her head. "I'll _never_ understand humans. But," she continued, looking up at the platform in front of the shrine where Takato and Jeri were standing together with the priest, "at least I've learned that there _are_ some good ones."

-o--()--o-

That night as Takato and Jeri were winging their way toward Paris, our little "family" lounged around Rika's apartment. Kayamon stretched herself out in front of the windows and watched the three of us with undisguised curiosity.

"I'm happy for you all, of course, but-- I-- it just seems so strange to me."

Rika carried a shallow saucer of sake over to Kayamon and held it for her to sip from. "Is it because I look-- _unattractive_ to you?"

I'd thought that Rika's seeming insecurity about her looks had just been a ploy on the night we first made love but it seemed that she truly did have doubts as to how others perceived her.

"Oh, no, you're extremely beautiful. Remarkably so for a human." Kayamon went on, not realizing how much reassurance she had given Rika. "It's just the thought of being with a human that way--" she paused and shook her head. "It doesn't seem right somehow."

"Jeeze, has my daughter grown up to be a racist? Or maybe a 'speciest' is the right word?" I asked in a half-joking manner.

Kayamon looked at me blankly for a moment and then asked, "What do you mean 'grown up'? I'm the same size I've always been." There was no doubt that she was a creature of the Digital Dimension through and through. So many human concepts were utterly alien to her.

Rika refilled her saucer. "Well, I've got this digital thingie inside of me, doesn't that sort of make me half digimon?"

Kayamon lifted her muzzle which dripped a few drops of sake onto the floor and flickered out of phase for an instant. "Yes," she said thoughtfully as she reappeared, "that's true isn't it?"

Rika made a fist and concentrated fiercely for second. Her aura rippled oddly and then a red glow surrounded her hand. She flicked her fingers open and a few bright red sparks few upward from her palm, quickly fading from sight as the neared the ceiling.

I hadn't known she could do that. The energy configuration had obviously been the same as my Fang Flurry.

"My net seems to store energy for a while," Rika told Kayamon. "Usually I can do better than that but it's been almost a day since Coyomon and I-- um-- you know."

"Had sex?" Kayamon asked bluntly.

"Uh-- yeah." Rika admitted. "I can do a pretty good Power Paw sometimes, too, if--"

"Oh," interrupted Kayamon, "I didn't realize you were having sex with my mother too."

"What?" Rika gasped. "I'm _not!_ It's after we _biomerge_ that I can do it! How can you think I would do that with Renamon?"

By this time I was struggling desperately not to laugh.

"Well, you love my father and you have sex with _him_." Kayamon pointed out.

"But Renamon's a _girl!"_ Rika sputtered, her face going red.

"No she isn't!" Kayamon retorted. "She's a digimon! She doesn't even have that thing you do-- what's it called?"

I couldn't contain myself any longer. I burst out into guffaws of laughter.

Rika shook an angry finger at me. "Shut up, flea-bag! It isn't funny!"

I held my hands up placatingly and tried to stifle my mirth. "I-- I'm sorry Rika," I said between chuckles.

"The plumbing doesn't matter! Look at them," Rika continued, turning back to Kayamon and hooking her thumb back at Renamon and I, "They're _obviously_ male and female. Hell, you call them 'mother' and 'father' and 'he' and 'she'! Those are terms that indicate gender!"

I glanced over at my _very_ female Renamon. She seemed to be the calmest one of us all but had placed a hand over her mouth and I could see the spasms of her jaw muscles and she fought back her own laughter. I truly envied her self-control.

Kayamon was looking puzzled. "That's true but--"

"And how about Lady Devimon?" Rika continued her verbal assault. "_Lady_ Devimon! She's got enormous _boobs_ for god's sake!"

That did it. I roared with laughter and Renamon couldn't contain herself any longer either. We fell into each other's arms nearly sobbing with laughter. Rika glared at us so fiercely that I felt somewhat relieved to know her digital web was depleted of energy.

After we all composed ourselves, the subject was dropped and we continued the evening's conversation on less contentious topics. But every once in a while, the phrase "enormous boobs" would pop into my head and I'd have to bite my lips to keep from laughing.


	4. Sex and Death

Chapter 4

Sex and Death

We had more free time after the wedding because Henry and his sister had returned from China and could share the duty of watching over Tokyo. The number of big hostile digimon coming through _did_ seem to be less than usual and we found ourselves often helping out with more mundane disasters. Maybe it was out of boredom or maybe it was because we were starting to take the title "Protectors" (that the media had hung on us) more seriously than we realized. I, for one, wasn't bored in the _least_.

I didn't advertise my new relationship with Rika but our close friends found out soon enough and most of the digimon in Japan seemed to know within days but it was still a secret as far as most everybody else was concerned. It seemed fairly easy to keep it that way. Rika hardly went out in public unless she was merged with Renamon and the times we were seen together we were usually sparring. The subtle signs of affection between two Mega-level digimon that some perceptive people noticed were viewed as charming, for the most part.

I didn't really move in to Rika's apartment. After all, I didn't own anything that needed moving. I just started to spend most of my free time there even when Rika and I weren't-- _enjoying_ each other. She gave me voice control of her apartment's AI and that was pretty much that.

Most of my job as Sovereign, as I saw it, was to make sure digimon and humans got along together. Aside from neutralizing destructive Wild Ones, that meant keeping an eye on public opinion concerning digimon and nudging it in the right direction. In Japan and many other countries, that was easy. Others-- not so much. There were whole regions of the globe that were actively hostile toward digital life forms. China was one of the fence-sitters. Most of her urban areas were cautiously pro-digimon but outside of the cities we ranked somewhere between cockroaches and demons. The digimon tour that Henry had put together had been an immense help. Once people got a close-up look at Terriermon and Lopmon they had a hard time holding on to their prejudices. Needless to say, neither one digivolved while on tour. It was a good first step.

It was my self-imposed duty that caused the only serious friction between Rika and I. I had plenty of spies out in the world, of course, but the major news agencies were much better at keeping me informed of the general trend of people's opinion and the _perception_ of specific incidents. The up-shot of that was that I felt the need to watch at least a couple of hours of newsfeeds a day.

Rika _loathed_ the news. Even the most levelheaded and calm newsorgs were contemptible in her eyes. She would get up and leave the room if I turned one of the screens to a news feed and then give me hell about it later. I tried explaining my reasons to her exactly once. _That_ did not go well.

Afterwards I always went to another room or picked a time when Rika was out with Renamon to do my "trouble scans" and I always kept an eye on Rika's aura for signs of irritation. It mostly worked out okay.

I don't know _why_ Rika had such a hate-on for the media. Renamon and she were almost always treated with great respect. _I_ was the digimon who people loved to hate. Just because I was the only known unpartnered Mega and had a bit of a sense of humor, some tight-assed, prissy types decided to portray me as a possible "threat" to humanity. Aside from a few pranks that didn't exactly work out as I'd planned, (I always fixed things up afterward!) there was no real reason for any such ridiculous accusations.

Oh, there were some sleazy tabloids that made all sorts of nasty insinuations without any evidence whatsoever but they always did that sort of thing to _every_ celebrity so nobody that mattered really paid them any attention-- except for laughs.

"You guys have got to see this!" I called to Rika and Renamon one afternoon as I flipped through various bottom-feeding news streams. The story was so ludicrous that I was positive Rika would be amused. They walked into the room and glanced over at the wall that was displaying the headline: IS YEII COYOMON CORRUPTING TOKYO'S GUARDIAN GODDESS? Below the text was a picture (obviously photoshopped) of Sakuyamon and I in front of a low-class nightclub. They had put a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels in my hand, the morons. If they knew anything at all about me, they ought to have known that I _despise_ bourbon. All they had to do was look at my Wikipedia page.

I thought it was hilarious but it really seemed to piss Rika off.

"Those bastards!" she fumed. "Those filthy _bastards!"_

"Hey, lover! Nobody takes this crap seriously," I said, gesturing at the screen.

Rika wouldn't be calmed and she stomped off to the bedroom. Moments later came the thumping noises of her kicking the furniture around. _I_ got angry then-- on her behalf.

Renamon cast me a worried glance as I stood up but I headed for the balcony windows, not the bedroom. I sent out a silent call and moments later a digignome flitted down from the sky. I gave it instructions and it glided away.

Renamon gave me a "what's up?" look but I just smiled secretively and shook my head. She sighed and went to comfort Rika. A few minutes later they both came out of the bedroom.

"What are you up to, flea-bag?" Rika asked me.

I pointed a finger at myself and opened my eyes wide in my most innocent "who, me?" expression.

Rika hovered between irritation and concern. "No, really, Coyomon. I don't want you to do anything stupid."

I chuckled. "In that case, you'd better tie me up and lock me in a closet!" But I could see that Rika wasn't in the mood for joking so I gave up. "Okay, I just started a little attitude adjustment program, that's all. The newsorg that posted that story is going to have its offices filled with jellyfish-- and a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels is going to show up on the chief editor's desk. I'm sure they'll get the message."

Rika stared at me. "Really?"

"Yup," I said. "If you're still angry I can arrange to have them be _poisonous_ jellyfish."

I thought she'd laugh but she actually got a bit teary-eyed. "That's so _sweet_ of you!"

Strangely enough there were no more malicious articles about us for a while.

-o--()--o-

A few nights later I came home from patrolling to find my girls settled in for a quiet evening. Renamon was folded into a lotus position facing a wall that was slowly crossfading from one colorful mandala to another and Rika was also sitting cross-legged but on one of the couches, clicking through a book. She glanced up and smiled a welcome to me. Renamon didn't move or open her eyes.

I had just had a knock-down, drag-out fight with a really nasty Golemon and was still filled with excited energy. I'd strictly limited myself to my Rookie abilities and walloped the Wheat Checks out of him anyway. As far as I was concerned there was only one thing in the world more fun than fighting and I was determined to make it a perfect evening. I leaned over Rika's shoulder and nibbled gently at her earlobe. "Hey Rika-chan-- you want to go make some fireworks?"

I know what you're thinking but for me that _is_ subtle seduction. Rika looked back over her shoulder at me and pursed her lips in thought for a second. Then she tossed her book aside and flipped herself over the back of the couch and into my arms.

She flicked the end of my nose with a finger and said, "You're on, fuzzy-pants!"

Renamon still didn't stir as I carried Rika off but the thin, subtle glow of her aura shifted its hue slightly toward that of amusement.

The bedroom door slid shut behind us and I tossed Rika onto the bed and shucked off my vest. She rose into a kneeling position and peeled off her T-shirt. She did it very slowly because she knew I loved watching her. I joined her on the bed, remembering to shorten and blunt my claws and soften my palms before I ran my hands over the sweet swell of her breasts. She pressed herself into my caress and lifted her mouth to mine.

As I lifted her up and peeled her jeans off of her, I noticed an uncertain flicker in her aura. It wasn't any reservation about what we were about to do. Her bioenergy made it clear that she was in a state of eager anticipation. Still--

I laid her down and stretched myself on top of her, lightly tracing her collarbone with the tip of my tongue. When my muzzle neared her shoulder I lifted my mouth to her ear and whispered, "What is it, lover?"

She knew better than to try to hide her thoughts from me. Not that I could read minds or anything like that. No, she just knew how insatiably curious I was and that I would pester the crap out of her until she told me.

"I've been thinking," she began.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked her in the eyes. "Yes?"

"Well-- I was wondering if you enjoyed making love as much as I do."

That shocked me. "Holy Tesla! Does it ever seem like I _don't_ enjoy it?"

"Well, no but it does seem like you do most of the-- um-- work." She colored with a bit of embarrassment but continued on. "It's not like I have a lot of experience but it seems to me that guys-- uh-- _human_ guys are all about getting off and you-- well-- _don't_."

I'd thought that her little debate with Kayamon had been forgotten but it seemed as if she had been turning it over in the back of her mind ever since.

"Giving _you_ pleasure is one of my greatest joys in life. And as far as physical sensation goes, I get a lot of feedback from your digital net, so when you feel good, _I_ feel good. So don't worry about me." Then a thought struck me. As strange as the idea might be to a complete egotist like myself, maybe this _wasn't _all about me.

"Do you miss it? Making love in the human way, I mean."

"Oh, no!" Rika rushed to assure me, "God, no! I've never-- I mean, the feel of your energy flowing into me is astounding and your _tongue_ is-- is--" she faltered to a stop, her blush deepening and her aura fluttering.

"Rika," I said to her in a low, serious voice, "this form isn't my _real_ body. It's just a disguise and it only looks the way it does because it's familiar-- easy to move into and out of. If you want, I can--" And I _shifted_. I'd always made a point of keeping track of her likes and dislikes and I knew the current crush she had on a certain action film star. In seconds I was wearing his body.

"Holy shit!" Rika gasped and, bizarrely, grabbed up the blanket to cover herself.

"It's still just me!" I reassured her.

"Could you change back, please?"

I was confused. I had no idea she would react that way. I immediately returned to my Coyomon form and Rika relaxed a little. "Um-- sorry--" I said, "but I thought maybe you would like something more-- familiar?"

Rika dropped the blanket and began to laugh. "Oh, god! Coyomon, you never cease to amaze me! Familiar? I've lived with digimon since I was twelve and I've spent damn near half my adult life _as_ a digimon! What could be more familiar to me than _your_ fuzzy face?"

I wasn't going to let her dodge the subject that easily. I rolled back on top of her. "You know what I mean. Wouldn't you like to make love like this-- with me inside of you _and_ my mouth on yours?" I made my actions fit my words and pressed my lips against hers while changing again-- just slightly.

Rika moaned and bit down on my lip. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. The surge of bioenergy in her body and the sparkle that rippled through her digital net told me all I needed to know.

She twisted her hands into the fur of my haunches and pulled me upward.

-o--(2)--o-

Renamon was still sitting serenely in her lotus position when I emerged from the bedroom several hours later. She opened one eye and tilted her head questioningly.

"Holy frikkin' Tesla, Renachan," I mumbled to her quietly, "There is something you and I have _got_ to try!"

It _had_ been the perfect evening and from the way my beautiful vixen looked at me then, it only promised to get better. But fate had other ideas.

The wall nearest me beeped softly and displayed two words: **DIGIMON NEWS**. I knew it wasn't any an ordinary incident or gossip because after the nightclub story I'd instructed the apartment AI never to alert me to news flashes unless they were of critical importance.

"Shit!" I cursed, "This had better be _really_ damned urgent!" Stupid me. I should have wished that the AI was malfunctioning or that the flash had been mislabeled or something. But I knew within seconds that we had a real emergency on our hands because more areas of the screen lit up with incoming call requests from Henry, Takato, and three government offices.

Dread washed over me like ice water and I traded one "oh shit" glance with Renamon before I expanded the news flash to reveal one of my most feared nightmares:

DIGIMON TAMER ON RAMPAGE! THOUSANDS FEARED DEAD

So much for the perfect evening.


	5. Death and Sex

Chapter 5  
Death and Sex

They all tried to talk at once and it was Takato, as usual, who got it sorted out. "Thank you," he said when everyone had stopped babbling. "Now, Minister Ito, can you please tell us all the facts of the situation?"

The Minister of Defense grimaced. "We don't know all that much for sure. There's a big storm in the area and half the province is covered by dense clouds so our satellites can't tell us much. We _do _know that there should be four to five thousand people in that valley but the heat signatures we're picking up indicate nowhere near that many living beings." There was a moment of silence as we all digested that horrific information.

"Minister Tanaka, what has the Chinese government told you?" Takato continued, grim-faced.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs blew out an exasperated breath. "What they've told us is to go fuck ourselves-- in the nicest possible way, of course. They aren't even admitting that anything has happened. All the information we've got is from local pirate uplinks and half of that is nonsensical screeds against the government. Some of them claim that a young girl and her digimon partner are responsible. Those are the stories that the newsfeeds have picked up on."

"We've got to go there!" Rika broke in. "We need to stop her!"

The Minister for Digital Relations shook his head forcefully. "You can't do that! The Chinese government would be furious if Japanese nationals crossed their borders to interfere in an internal matter!"

"Screw that!" I shouted, "People are _dying_ over there and we can stop it!"

"Quiet, Coyomon!" Only a few people in the world could have said that to me without earning a butt full of teeth. I clamped my jaws shut and listened to Takato.

"Coyomon _will_ go there. He's about as Japanese as a taco and that will give you, Minister Watanabe, plausible deniability."

"What about me?" Rika demanded.

"I'm sorry, Nonaka-san," the Minister said, "You are a symbol, not only of Japan, but of Tokyo in particular-- known the world over."

"I'm _not_ a goddamned _symbol_." Rika hissed though her teeth.

I turned to her and winked with my eye that was hidden from the wall screens. "It's all right Rika, I can handle it."

She was so angry that she almost missed my tip-off. "Oh-- right-- Okay. I don't like it-- but okay."

Takato cast us a worried glance. He knew something was going on but he also knew better than to say anything in front of the ministers. "Henry, you made a lot of friends over there. See what you can find out through unofficial channels. Coyomon, take an SMU with you so we can stay in touch."

I nodded. I always kept a fully charged Secure Mobile Unit with me even though it annoyed me to use what I thought of as an electronic leash. But this time I was going to be very glad I had it.

-o--()--o-

I was over the Yellow Sea, nearing the Chinese coast, when Sakuyamon caught up with me. She shouted to me over the turbulent winds, "Sorry it took me so long. Watanabe-san was a bit long-winded."

"Let me guess, he gave you Seven Excellent Reasons to behave?"

"I don't know-- I wasn't really listening."

If it weren't for the thought of what lay ahead of us, I would have smiled. We flew on through the storm and I cast my senses ahead trying to locate the rogue digimon. There was nothing. There were a few Rookies scattered along the sides of our path but nothing ahead.

I still hadn't sensed anything by the time we arrived over the valley but by then we had other concerns. The place was in ruins. Everything on the valley floor was smashed beyond recognition and piled up against the surrounding foothills. I could sense humans trapped in the wreckage and it took only a glance between Sakuyamon and I to agree that saving what lives we could was our first priority. The digimon who'd done this could be anywhere by now and our support team back in Tokyo had a better chance of locating it than we did.

The first thing we learned as we swooped down to the first survivors was that a digimon hadn't done the damage-- at least not directly. Everything was soaking wet and half-buried in a slurry of mud and sand. It had been a flood.

We lifted an old couple off of the wreckage of their roof and flew them to a large group that huddled on a hillside above the valley floor. The old folk were too exhausted to be frightened of us but the people on the hillside scattered in fear as we touched down.

"These people need your help!" I called out to them. "We will bring anyone else we can find to this spot!"

We shuttled back and forth, carrying the pitifully few survivors we could find to the hillside. I noticed that one old guy seemed to be directing all the others and when we could find no more survivors I approached him. He looked up in fear and I did the best thing I could think of to put him at ease. I kowtowed to him and said, "Honored Grandfather, please may this unworthy one ask you a question?"

I surreptitiously watched him as he jerked in surprise and then glanced around at the other villagers. They were looking back and forth between him and me, no doubt wondering what sort of mojo the old guy had to command such respect from a thing like me.

Granddad pulled himself up and said haughtily, "Very well. You may ask your question." The cunning old fox! He had no frikkin' idea what was going on but he was playing to the crowd. Smart. No wonder he was the head honcho around those parts.

"This flood. Do you know what caused it?"

"The storm was great and the dam began to leak--" the old guy began.

"It was the little witch and her demon!" screamed an equally ancient woman. "She commanded her demon to break the dam!" Several others in the crowd muttered in agreement.

"No," Granddad shook his head, "I do not believe that. Mai was always a good child. She would not do such a thing."

"She consorted with _demons_!" the old gal screeched.

"It's true!" a young guy put in. "I saw her and her flaming creature at the dam just before it broke."

"Well then," I said to the young guy, standing, unfurling my wings, and reaching out for him, "you can direct me to where you saw her last." He tried to run from me, the dumb-ass.

After he got tired of screaming and calmed down a bit, he was able to point me to the big earthen dam at the head of the valley-- or what was left of it. The river still raged through the ragged gap in it and more huge chunks of earth dropped into the torrent as I watched.

"There!" Sakuyamon called to me, pointing with her staff. We swooped down and I dropped Mouthy Boy to the ground. He scrambled up and hoofed it for parts unknown. We landed next to a young girl who lay crumpled on the edge of the dam, soaked and shivering but alive. There was a digivice lying on the ground next to her.

Sakuyamon lifted the child into her arms and the kid moaned and her eyes flickered open. "Coronamon?" she asked weakly.

I looked at her digivice. It was active but there was nothing but static on the screen. "He will be here soon," I lied to her, hating myself.

"We tried to stop the dam from breaking," the girl continued in an exhausted voice. "Coronamon used his fire to bake the earth but it broke anyway!" Her eyes flew open as she remembered. "The water hit him! It took him away! Where is he? _Where is he?"_

Sakuyamon gave me an anguished look. I flicked a button on the SMU and Henry's voice immediately responded. "What's up, Coyomon?"

"We've got a kid that needs urgent medical attention. Give me the location of the nearest hospital." Seconds later info popped up on the screen. "Thanks, Henry. I'll update you soon."

I turned to Sakuyamon. The girl had lost consciousness again. "Follow me," I told her and leaped into the sky.

"We need to get this information out," Sakuyamon called to me as we flew. "She wasn't at fault. There was no 'rampage'! She was trying to _save_ all those people!"

I should have felt smug. I should have given her a smart-assed grin. But my heart ached and I just waved the SMU at her. "Don't worry, I've been broadcasting everything we've done here."

-o--()--o-

We hovered in the sky just off the coast watching the sunrise together.

"Do you think we're in trouble?" Sakuyamon asked me.

"With Minister Watanabe, the Chinese, the newsorgs who we made look like idiots?" I pretended to think for a second. "Oh yeah-- _big-time_. Want to ask me if I care?"

"I know the answer to _that_ one already."

"What bothers me isn't all the government or media nonsense. It's the way that girl's own neighbors turned against her. She was trying to save all of their lives. She could have died-- nearly did-- and she lost her partner for their sake. Maybe the rest of the world will see what a hero she was-- but will _they?"_

It was a stupid question. There was no way of knowing. I was just frustrated by the ability of a few superstitious and bigoted people to destroy the goodwill we'd all been striving to build between digimon and humans.

I sighed and pulled the SMU out of the portal inside of my jacket. As I figured, it was beeping for attention. At least a dozen calls were listed on its screen. I really wanted to shove it back through to that other world so I could pretend that all the problems it connected me to didn't exist but I knew I'd have to face them sooner or later. I looked down the list and selected Takato's name.

His face on the tiny screen looked drawn and exhausted. "Heya, Takato," I greeted him, "we're on our way back home."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "You guys did good."

"Thanks. So when will we be punished for it?"

That got a wry smile out of him. "This afternoon. Minister Watanabe wants to hold a press conference with both of you. He wants you to be at his office at three to be prepped."

I had a momentary flash of intense irritation but I realized that it would be a good opportunity to put a positive face on this whole disaster. "Okay," I sighed, glancing over at Sakuyamon for confirmation. "We'll be there. But we're not going to answer any more calls until then."

-o--()--o-

We flew back to Tokyo, phasing out for the last few miles to avoid the media fliers that were swarming around Rika's apartment. There were times when I thought Kayamon's suggested way of dealing with them might not be a bad one after all.

We phased back in to the living room and I ordered the walls to shut the hell up. I turned to Sakuyamon and said, "Whatever else happens, I'm going to make sure that girl is okay. She deserves it."

Sakuyamon tossed her staff onto a couch and reached out to take my head in her hands. She pulled me into a long, sweet kiss. I slipped my arms around her waist and pulled her into a close embrace and she let her armor fade away to make it easier for me.

Energy began to flicker back and forth between us and the apartment's walls crackled with static as our embrace and caresses grew more passionate.

Sakuyamon suddenly tore herself away from me and separated into Renamon and Rika. My disappointment must have been obvious because Rika immediately took my hand in hers and said, "I _want_ to! Oh god, I _really _want to. With both of us as Megas it would be-- who _knows_ how wonderful. But _that's_ the problem. Did you see the screens just now? And we were just kissing! We'd fry the building's systems at the very least."

Renamon said nothing but the feral look in her narrowed eyes spoke eloquently of her own frustration.

I nodded, sighed, and slipped into my Rookie form. "Well, it's going to be a long and irritating day. I suppose we should try and get some rest."

Rika looked at Renamon. "Are _you_ tired?"

Renamon looked at Rika. "Not in the least."

They practically dragged me into the bedroom. Not that I would have resisted-- but they didn't give me any say in the matter.

-o--(3)--o-


	6. A Nice Bucket of Ice Cold Water

Chapter 6  
A Nice Bucket of Ice-Cold Water

The interview was a farce, of course. Sakuyamon and I mouthed the insipid, cliched phrases that Minister Watanabe had prepared for us and we answered the few questions from the carefully selected reporters with simplistic sound bites.

Watanabe and I had butted heads before and he was a bit surprised by my completely unresisting cooperation. He didn't know that I was still basking in the mellow afterglow of the morning spent in bed and probably wouldn't have objected overmuch if he'd set me on fire.

As we were leaving the newsroom I realized he had spoken to me. I had been entirely entranced by the sway of Sakuyamon's perfect backside as she walked down the hallway in front of me and was imagining what it would be like to unleash all our Mega energy together. I had completely missed what he'd said.

"Excuse me, minister?" I said, still not looking away from my lovers' mesmerizing curves.

"I just wanted you to know that the Chinese government is treating the girl like a hero. They have reunited her with her family and will be giving her a medal. Their media is completely ignoring our part in the affair, which is the best we could hope for under the circumstances."

"That's nice."

He followed my gaze and pointedly cleared his throat. I frowned. Minister Buzz-Kill was stating to put a crack in my happy mood.

"If it is not too much trouble, may I please have a word with you in private, Yeii Coyomon-san?" He was being extra polite. That spelled trouble.

Sakuyamon stopped and looked back at us, frowning.

"It's all right, lov-- ah-- Sakuyamon, I'll see you later." I told her.

The minister led me into a small conference room. Small enough that I shifted into my Rookie form for comfort's sake.

The minister tapped the desktop and the wall behind him lit up with a selection of news stories about the flood. Almost all of them featured footage of Sakuyamon holding the battered tamer girl or one of the flood victims in her arms. The videos had been edited into montages that reinforced Sakuyamon's image as a goddess of compassion and protection.

I raised an eyebrow at Watanabe. "Looks great to me."

"Yes," he agreed. "I am most pleased that your irresponsibility in luring Sakuyasama into disobedience did not end in embarrassment or disaster."

"Oh, frikkin' Tesla! If you think anybody can 'lure' those iron-willed females into anything against their will, you are sadly mistaken."

"I fear it is not so. Until recently their behavior has been exemplary, while yours has _always_ been--" he tapped the desk once again and several videos of my more _unusual_ exploits appeared. The one in the center was from yesterday. It was a slightly out of focus shot of a terrified Chinese guy being dragged, screaming into the air with my fist twisted into his shirtfront. Maybe I should have turned off the SMU for that bit.

"This," said Watanabe sternly while pointing a stiff finger at the wall, "is how the people see you."

"Well, I don't give a mosquito's fart what the people think about--"

The minister slammed the desk angrily with both palms. "I _do! _And if you had any sense, you would too! You know why my Ministry was created. You've often assured me that you are working toward the same goals! Yet everything you do seems designed to harm the reputation of digimon everywhere!"

That really gave me pause. "How can what I do reflect on other digimon? The general public doesn't know I'm the Sovereign, so why should they connect me with--"

He tapped the desktop again and a single beautiful picture filled the wall. It was Sakuyamon handing out the Junior Grand Prize at last year's Digimon World Grand Prix. The champion, a great little kid from Mexico named Armando, was gazing up at her like he'd just seen the gates to heaven. Ryo was there looking like a rock star and even Cyberdramon wore a peasant-seeming expression. I was in the background, just visible behind one of the judges, grinning my head off. It was exactly the sort of image of digimon that both Watanabe and I wanted to promote.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked him.

"_You_ are what's wrong with it." He told me coldly.

I thoughtfully broke off one corner of the desk and crumbled it to tiny bits in my fist. "Okay-- I'm _stupid_-- explain it to me in small words, Watanabe." I deliberately left off the polite "san".

Fortunately, the part of the desk I had snapped off didn't affect the rest of its circuitry and it responded to the minister's finger taps by flashing a series of pictures on the wall. They were all fairly well known ones of Sakuyamon or Rika and Renamon and all of them had _me_ somewhere in them.

"There are many digimon on Earth now but only a few famous ones and none so famous as the First Three and their tamers." He meant Guilmon, Terriermon and Renamon. "First Three" was another media label that had stuck in spite of it being wrong in almost every regard. "Of the First Three, Nonaka-san and her partner are the most beloved, and therefore are the most _visible_. Your relationship with Renamon is known if not widely advertised, except in the _gutter_ press, and it seems as if most people are willing to accept or ignore it."

I realized where he was going and started to get angry. "Look, it's our own business if we--"

"No!" The minister interrupted me, "it most certainly is _not_ your own business! I know you have been as discreet as possible but already the media have been broadcasting hints at your relationship." His finger stabbed out again and the phony picture of us in front of the nightclub appeared. "So far it has been only the tabloids that have seen fit to lower themselves to this sort of thing, and the Ministry of Digital Affairs has ways to discourage them--" he paused and allowed himself a small smile, "-- ways that do not involve _seafood_. But we will not be able to manage to contain the damage if your relationship with Sakuyamon becomes confirmed."

"Damage? Just what the fuck do you mean by _damage?" _I snarled at him, barely keeping the lid on my temper.

"I do not mean to insult you and I certainly would never _dream_ of insulting Sakuyasama." He sighed and blanked the wall. "We both want to have the most harmonious relations possible between digimon and humans and I'm sure that, in the future, such _romances_ as yours will be more acceptable to the public. But the perception of most people--"

"Quit pussy-footing around, Watanabe!" I growled. "Spit it out!"

"Very well. I will be blunt. Sakuyamon is a heroine to most people and even a _goddess_ to many. She does more good for human-digimon relations than anyone else. _You_ on the other hand are, most charitably, seen as a trouble-maker and some-- a great many, actually-- see you as a outright villain. Your association with her can do nothing but tarnish her image and therefor the image of _all_ digimon."

I began to speak but he raised a hand to stop me. "As bad as that may be, the other consideration is _worse_. Sakuyamon is Renamon and Rika Nonaka merged into one being. Yes, that being is usually considered to be a digimon but she _is_ half-human also. _You_ are completely a digimon and one that looks very much like an animal. The thought of a _beast_ and young Nonaka-san together in _any_ way is repellant in the extreme. If the public does not make the connection, the media will certainly do so for them, and that will be ruinous for digimon everywhere."

That stunned me into silence. The difference in our reputations was one thing, but this other-- I had never considered it before.

"Do-- do people really find the idea so awful?" I asked quietly.

"I assure you that I have understated the situation."

He seemed to believe that my "relationship" was with Sakuyamon but _not_ Rika. After making such a big deal about it and calling me a "beast" I certainly wasn't going to enlighten him but I wanted to know if people would _really_ be so disturbed. "There are many tamers and their partners who are also lovers," I told him. "It's not very common but--" I stopped, seeing his aura flush brightly with the colors of disgust and anger.

"I did not know that." He admitted. "That will be another matter for the Ministry to be _aware_ of."

I didn't like the way he said that. "I-- I'll have to think about what you've said," I told him. I wanted to get the hell out of there.

He bowed deeply to me. "Please do so, Yeii Coyomon-sama." He used my Mega name even though I was in my Rookie body. I suppose he thought it was more polite or something. "I only have the best interests of relations between our two peoples at heart."

-o--()--o-

I couldn't go home. I couldn't face Rika and Renamon because they'd know instantly that something was very wrong and I wouldn't be able to lie to them. I flew in circles desperately trying to figure out some course of action. After a while I noticed that I'd picked up a tail of aircraft, so I phased out and headed for someplace I could sit and think undisturbed.

There was a big communications mast on top of the Sony Tower that had so many antennas sticking out of it, you could hide an elephant up there. I landed on top of a big microwave baffle, slipped into my Rookie form and wrapped shadow around myself. Let the newshounds go chase somebody else.

_I'm not as out-of-touch with people-- _normal_ people-- as Watanabe seems to think-- am I?_ I asked myself. Then something occurred to me. I reached into my vest portal, just about as far as my arm would go, and pulled out a leather satchel. In it were various little keepsakes that I'd hung onto over the years, and in there somewhere was a little book I wanted to look at again.

But the first thing I pulled out was an action figure. Pardon me, I mean a "Collector's Limited-Edition Statuette". Of me. It sent my thoughts back years ago to when the toy makers had started producing all sorts of "merchandise" based on my friends. Nowadays all the royalties from anything using my image I split between Takato, Henry and Rika. It's not like _I_ need money for anything. But back then digimon had no legal standing whatsoever and without a tamer to "own my likeness" the company thought they could get away with stiffing me.

After a couple of days of having gallons of pig urine show up in their plastic vats, the company bigwigs came around to my way of thinking.

Funny-- that memory usually made me laugh. Not tonight. I took a closer look at the figure. The sculptor that had done the original had been pretty talented and the figure was about as detailed as you could get in molded plastic. The face-- _my_ face-- was snarling. No big surprise-- almost all the digimon models were angry-looking and in threatening poses. But there was something different here. My snarl looked-- well-- _nasty. _ Not like a hero's at all.

_Maybe I'm reading too much into this_, I told myself.

I set the figure aside and rummaged in the satchel, finally pulling out the little book I'd been searching for. It had been a gag-gift from Kenta a couple of years back. He'd made one for each of the group's digimon and the other tamers had helped him with the project. The title was "Digimail" and the cover of mine was a picture of me sitting in front of an old-style flatscreen monitor, laughing my butt off. It was basically a collection of "the best of the worst" of all the emails that the tamers had gotten from fans hoping to reach me.

It was divided into sections by subject: Religion, Politics, Philosophy, WTF?, and Indecent Proposals. I flipped to the last section. It was, by far, the largest. There were photos.

_Well,_ I thought, thumbing through the pages, _this proves that not _everyone_ is disgusted by the thought of an intimate relationship with a digimon-- not even a "beast" type._ Even if the emails were a bit bizarre and betrayed a severe lack of comprehension about digimon physiology, they were undeniably sincere.

But Kenta had chosen them precisely because they _were_ laughable. I felt even worse than before.

I tossed the book back into the satchel and picked up the action figure again. I stared at the vicious sneer on its face for a while and then flicked the little button that stuck out of its back, making the wings flap up and down. I turned it in my hand and then tossed it in a high arc. For a moment there, it looked like it was flying. Then it tumbled out of sight on its long journey to the pavement below.

-o--()--o-

Terriermon finally came to the window. It felt like I'd been tapping on it for _ages_.

"Coyomon?" He peered out at me, "What the heck are you doing here at three in the morning? Is there some trouble?"

"Naw-- no trouble at all! I just wanted to come by and see you! What's wrong with that?"

Terriermon winced back from me and waved an ear in front of his face. "Whew! What the heck have you been drinking?"

I peered at the bottle, "I think it's rum. No-- that was the _last_ bottle--" I squinted harder but couldn't focus on the label so I held it out to Terriermon. "What's it say?"

"It says Coyomon needs to burn it off and go home. Rika's been calling around trying to find you."

"Aw crap-- " I sighed, "I can't go home. Who'd want to assos-- assoshi-- hang around with a _beast_ like me?" I waved the bottle for emphasis and lost my grip on the side of the building. I _must_ have had a lot of alcohol in me because I hardly felt the two landings I hit on the way down.

I was peeling my face off the pavement when Terriermon glided down beside me. "Momentai, doesn't even cover it, Coyomon. What's the heck is going on with you?"

I tossed away the broken bottleneck I had still been holding and turned to him, "I'm a villain-- a bad guy-- how come nobody _told_ me?"

Terriermon sighed. "Coyomon, you're not making any sense. If you need to vent, at least sober up a bit so I can figure out what you're talking about."

That made some sense even to _my_ alcohol-fogged brain so I concentrated and a vapor cloud formed around me. Terriermon covered his face with an ear until the cloud had dissipated. I groaned as the world came into sharper focus, "Oh, frikkin', bald-headed Tesla, I don't _want_ to be sober!"

Terriermon sat down on the curb next to me and put a comforting ear on my shoulder. "Start at the beginning," he told me.

-o--()--o-

"--and that's it," I finished up, "Watanabe's right-- I'm a bad example, a bad influence-- and I'm going to end up ruining Rika's reputation."

"So," Terriermon said after a few moments thought, "do you still love her?"

"What?" I gasped, "_Of course_ I still love her!"

"So go tell _her_ that. Tell her your sob story and work out something _together_."

"But--" And then it hit me. This was just about the same dammed conversation I'd had with Ryo last fall. Only this time, _I _was on the stupid end of it.

"Holy crap, pal! You are _completely_ right!"

"That's a _bit _of consolation for having been woken up in the middle of the night," Terriermon smirked. "You guys have just got to hang in there for a while. More and more peaceful digimon are coming here all the time and there are higher level pairs drawing more media attention. Pretty soon you guys will hardly be newsworthy and then--"

It hit me like a bolt of lightning. Of course! That was the answer! If there were digimon tamers living on every block-- if Megas were as common as dirt-- Rika, Renamon and I would be nothing special. We wouldn't be living under a microscope anymore!

"Uh-- Coyomon?" Terriermon asked doubtfully.

I clapped my hands together and rubbed them with glee. I had a _mission!_

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**Well-- a long talky chapter there. I hope it didn't drag. The real action is just about to start, I promise.**

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**


	7. Home Improvement

Chapter 7  
Home Improvement

After I'd talked Rika out of finding Minister Watanabe and showing him what his lungs looked like, she got angry for an entirely _different_ reason. Renamon just stood there, arms crossed over her chest, and watched as Rika punched me.

It was a damned _good_ punch, too. The long muscles in her thighs flexed, her hips rotated with perfect, smooth strength, and her digital net flared power into her fist just as it smacked into the side of my muzzle. I staggered back against a couch and flopped down on my butt.

Rika stood over me scowling, her fists still clenched. "What the hell are you _smiling_ about?" she snarled at me.

"I know it's a cliché," I told her, rubbing my stinging cheek, "but you're beautiful when you're-- no-- you're beautiful _all_ the time. When you're angry, you're _magnificent."_

"Don't you try to sweet-talk me, flea-bag! Why the hell didn't you come to me right away? I was worried sick about you!"

"I was ashamed of myself. What Watanabe said is true. I felt like--" I struggled to find the right words, "--like I'd hurt you by just by being _me_."

Rika's anger disappeared. It replaced by irritation. "You numbskull! Watanabe is distorting the whole issue! All he cares about is our public images-- and, frankly, I'm getting sick to death of mine. The Guardian Fucking Goddess could _use_ a good tarnishing."

Renamon was still standing quietly watching us.

"What do _you_ think about all this, Renachan?" I asked her.

"Rika is my tamer and I will stand by her no matter what she decides to do. As for this 'goddess' and 'protector' nonsense--" She made an dismissive gesture. "We are what we _do_-- not what people label us." She turned to Rika. "But could you have _not_ helped that poor child in China? Could you have _not_ gone to stop what you thought was a murderous digimon in the first place?"

Rika mumbled something at the floor. Renamon just smiled ever so slightly.

"Okay," I nodded, "so we do what we do-- it's just our natures. It's everybody _else_ who's desperately interested in our 'image'."

"Well, I'm tired of being told to live my life for everybody else," Rika said. "And I'm really tired of everybody else telling me who I should or shouldn't sleep with!"

"Well--" I drawled, "I think maybe I've come up with a way to distract 'everyone else' from the details of our private lives."

Rika raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"You see--" And I explained my plan to her. She surprised me by immediately declaring that it was a good idea.

"But let's call the others this afternoon and talk it over with them," she said. "We'll need help with this. It's just too big to handle by ourselves and it's going to affect all of us."

-o--()--o-

The other tamers cautiously agreed that my plan would be worth a try. Even the ones who liked being famous had gotten weary of their every action being scrutinized by half the planet. Up until now, we'd all just put up with it. It was time to take a hand in things.

Henry and Jeri did all the electronic legwork for me, compiling lists of names and locations of likely tamers. Not just tournament winners, but all the near runners-up, people who had logged a high number of hours in online sims, and even artists and writers who showed a strong affinity for digimon. Kayamon worked the digital side of things, recruiting low-level digimon who wanted tamers but hadn't been lucky or persistent enough to make their way to the Real World. A lot of digimon already on Earth seemed delighted to help. Even some Wild Ones pitched in. It seemed like everyone loved to have a _cause_ to work for.

Once we started the organization running it was nearly self-sustaining.

"Now," I said to a meeting of the tamers a couple of weeks after we'd started Operation Partner (as Takato called it) "We've got several thousand new tamers so far. It's time to start upping the levels of select digimon."

"So, how are we going to 'select' them?" Jeri asked. "Won't it be dangerous to make a bunch of upper level digimon if we don't know how they'll behave?"

"I think one in ten being elevated to permanent Champion status won't be much of a risk. After all, if any start causing trouble, I can just demote them." I carefully didn't say "delete". Jeri was still very sensitive about fighting. Oh, she biomerged with Elecmon every once in a while but strictly for support or rescue situations. If any of our group truly deserved the name "Protector" it was Jeri.

"As for the highest levels," I continued, "I've come up with a little test--"

-o--()--o-

I spotted the kid from quite a distance off. He was sitting on a low wall surfing the web on a pocket computer. Even though the sound reached me several seconds later, I knew the exact moment the proximity alarm went off on his digivice because he tossed the pocket comp into his backpack and picked up his digivice with one hand while unsnapping the flap of his card pouch with the other. Good instincts.

I also knew the instant he read the word "Mega" off the info disk because he jerked like he'd been kicked.

His partner, a renamon, dropped from the tree limb above his head where she'd been staying out of sight, stepped to his side, and whispered something into his ear. He seemed to relax a bit.

I made a big, showy landing, sweeping up clouds of dust with the downdraft from my wings. To his credit, the kid barely flinched.

"I don't have much time, so I need you to _not _ask a lot of dumb questions, okay?" The kid just nodded. I was beginning to like him.

"You're a good tamer or you wouldn't have a renamon for a partner, so--"

"Her name is Sasha," he interrupted me.

This didn't surprise me. Almost every other renamon had a unique name. _My _Renamon was the famous one, so everybody else had to distinguish themselves from her somehow. Even wild renamon took human names nowadays.

"Okay," I nodded, "Then tell me one thing about Sasha."

He frowned at me suspiciously. "What's that?"

"Do you love her?"

His eyes damn neared bugged out of his head and Sasha's head gave a jerk of surprise. "_What?" _they both said together.

"You heard me, tamer."

He was just a kid-- in his late teens somewhere, if my inexpert judgement of human age was right. He frowned and looked down at his feet in discomfort but I didn't have time to pussy-foot around being "sensitive of his emotional turmoil" or any of that New Age stuff.

"The answer isn't written on the sidewalk, damnit! I need to know the truth and I need to know it right now!"

He looked up, glaring angrily at me and then half turned, looking back over his shoulder at his partner. He didn't look away from her as he answered me. "Yeah-- yeah, I _do _love her."

Sasha gave a little gasp and her eyes went wide. She reached out a tentative hand to her tamer but I grabbed the boy and spun him back around to face me. "Sorry. Haven't got time. Smootch later. Here," I pulled a digignome from inside my jacket and thrust it into his arms. "Hold this." A blast of Sovereign energy from my eyes ripped the little guy to shreds and injected the data bits into the boy's body where they condensed into the digital web that would allow him to biomerge with his partner.

Sasha bristled, misunderstanding my actions and crouched for an attack. She _knew _I was the Sovereign of Earth-- one of the most powerful digimon in existence-- and yet she was willing to fight me to protect her tamer. The kid's love for her certainly wasn't a one-way street.

I had no time for explanations. I pushed the kid's hand that was holding his digivice against his chest while shoving him back against Sasha, and at the same time hitting the digivice's activate button. A digivolution vortex enveloped both him and his partner.

A few seconds later a towering, powerful figure wearing dark armor that gleamed like black oil emerged from the vortex. It looked mostly human except for a vulpine head and tail, both just as black as the armor. In its right hand was a long, wicked-looking katana.

"Now, _that _is a kick-ass digimon!" I nodded in approval and leapt into the air, heading for the next pair of partners on my list. _One down-- how many to go? _I asked myself. _If I'm right-- maybe hundreds. I hope I'm right._

-o--()--o-

I _love_ being right. Oh yeah, there were some failures. Fuckwits who stared at me like stunned sheep or said something like, "Are you crazy? It's just a digimon!" I had a sneaking suspicion that without a deep emotional bond with their partners, they wouldn't have been able to biomerege with them no matter what I did, anyway. With three of them I was so repulsed by their attitude that I asked their digimon partners if they wanted to be released-- returned to the Digital World or left to seek out a new tamer. Even then, only one took me up on it.

But the successes outweighed the failures by an order of magnitude. Not that most confessed to _romantic_ love-- sometimes they wouldn't even use the word 'love' at all-- but strong affection combined with a deep respect was good enough for me. Most of the ones on my list passed the test and that meant that I spent over two weeks, working 24/7, punching digignomes into tamers' chests as fast as I could.

After the first few days, it got old, but I kept on. I tried humor to help lighten the load but found it slowed me down too much. Though, I have to admit, lurking in a dark alley in London and hissing, "Psst! Hey kid! Wanna be a Mega?" at that passing tamer, was _totally_ worth it. Oh, the _look_ on that kids face!

-o--()--o-

"Almost twelve hundred new biomerged Megas," Henry told me when I finally returned to Tokyo. "Not bad. That's about one every twenty five minutes."

"I don't know why everyone says you're so lazy!" Terriermon quipped.

"Thanks, I-- wait-- who says I'm _lazy?"_

Henry rolled his eyes. "So what's the next step?"

"I'm taking the week off!" I told him and then pointed a stern finger at his partner. "Zip it, Terrierbrat! I've _earned_ a rest."

"Somehow, I don't think you'll be doing much _resting_," the smug little bastard said. "I mean, Renamon and Rika haven't seen you for--"

Henry popped his knuckles squarely on top of his evil-minded little partner's head. "It's been a long time since you were put in a dress and force-fed sugary tea but I can arrange that if there isn't any other way to improve your manners."

"Momentai, Henry! I'm just kidding around!"

"Yeah," I said magnanimously, "Don't sweat it, Henry. The little guy's _harmless_." It was, of course, a remark carefully calculated to enrage him.

Terriermon looked back and forth between Henry and I, pouting, and then threw his ears into the air in disgust.

-o--()--o-

After a couple of days of doing nothing but reconnecting with my lovers, I called a meeting of our team to discuss how Operation Partner was working out.

"In the past five weeks about twenty thousand Child and Rookie level digimon have come to Earth and there are hundreds more coming through each day," Henry said, reading from a list on the desktop. "We've had digignomes delivering special Blue Cards to tamers that seem to be responsible types and now there are about four thousand new permanent Champions and fifteen hundred Ultimates. After 'Coyomon's World Tour' we've got 1,178 new biomerged Megas.

Everybody was looking around at each other. The numbers seemed pretty impressive even though tamers still comprised only a microscopic proportion of the world's population.

"Okay, so much for the numbers game," Rika spoke up. "How are people reacting?"

Most of the rest of us had been scouring the newsorgs but Rika still refused to even glance at a newsfeed. Jeri tapped her portion of the desktop and the walls flicked to life with short summaries and opinion poll graphics.

What it boiled down to is that almost everybody was delighted with what was happening. The negative opinions came mostly from old or very conservative people-- but _they_ never liked any sort of change anyway, so there was no way we could expect to please them.

The best of all was the graph that showed the number and proportion of news stories about the original tamers and their partners in relation to all the new guys. The little red line that represented us had nearly dropped off the bottom of the chart!

"Woo hoo!" I cheered and did a little victory dance on the desk. (Which caused the wall screens to frantically strobe through random images.) "Who's the _mon?_ C'mon! Say it with me! Co- yo-_ mon!"_

Terriermon grinned, leaned over to Rika, and whispered (loudly) to her, "What the heck do you see in that guy?"

"Well, it sure as hell ain't _quiet dignity_, pal!" I bellowed back at him, backflipping off the desk.

For once my boisterous nonsense seemed to go over well with everybody. The news was good-- better than we could have hoped for-- and everybody was both relieved and excited. The world was changing and we were helping it toward a more wonderful future.

Or so we thought.

Even now, I can't say for sure whether it was my optimistic scheme that triggered the attacks or if they would have happened anyway.


	8. Digimon Killer

Chapter 8  
Digimon Killer

There's an old truism: You're always prepared to fight the _previous_ war.

Aside from trying to make the Earth into a nice playground for digimon and humans alike, I had another, less open agenda. I'm a pretty relaxed and laid-back sort and usually have a live-and-let live attitude. I don't normally mess with people unless they intrude on me in some negative way. The exception is for that most sinister and dangerous type of human-- the programmer.

You just can't trust them.

Oh, sure, they're the ones who created the Digital Dimension in the first place but they did it by _accident_. I shudder to think what the place would be like if they had done it on purpose! I don't like to think I'm unreasonably prejudiced but the thought of a human who can completely alter my reality just by typing a few lines of code gives me the wiggins something fierce.

After scouring the Digital Dimension of the D-reaper a decade ago and my experience with the charming folk at HYPNOS, I swore I'd never be blindsided by dangerous hackers ever again. Alright, I _know_ I'm not being exactly fair but even Henry's father-- one of the nicest humans I know-- was fully intending to banish all of us digital types from the Real World and his boss Yamaki was willing to _kill_ us all if it came to that.

So I had been guarding against potentially hazardous developments in software ever since because I didn't want to have any _Juggernaut, Ragnarok_, or_ D-Reaper _type programs crop up again. I had digignomes sniffing around most major software developers and government labs. I had machine-type digimon, who could interface directly, constantly checking web traffic for any hint of weaponized code.

I never imagined that just hardware alone would be a problem. Only very low level digimon could be affected by even the most powerful conventional weaponry and using strategic weapons against us would be like setting fire to a dog to get rid of its fleas. The best defense against bad digimon were _good_ digimon and the sooner everyone realized that, the sooner we would become an unremarkable part of human civilization. With the burgeoning digimon population, things seemed to be heading down that road quite nicely.

But I'd underestimated the cleverness and maliciousness of the human race. We didn't even know what was happening when the attacks started.

-o--()--o-

A pack of Gazimon that showed up in Edogawa were the first victims.

Rika and Renamon had done a photoshoot that day for a company that was making athletic wear based on well-known digimon colors and patterns. Rika didn't like doing it much, and Renamon even less, but the money the clothing company was paying them would cover the penthouse rent for almost two years, so she couldn't bring herself to turn them down. Besides-- I think Rika looked dead sexy in those yellow bicycle shorts with the purple taijitu on the thighs. Takato was there, too, sporting a neat red and white warm-up jacket with triangular black patches that resembled Guilmon's hide more than a little.

"Gee," I said, innocently, "I wonder how many guilmon they had to skin to make this thing."

Guilmon wasn't as gullible as he once had been but he was still a basically sweet and innocent guy so my comment startled him and he had to pause for a few seconds before realizing that I was kidding him.

Takato laughed and said to me, "I hear they're also going to do a line of fur coats next winter, Coyomon. Are you going to donate some material?"

We all had dinner together at Nanbantei afterwards and _weren't_ mobbed by fans or photographers. The restaurant was one of the ones that advertised themselves as "digimon-friendly" which meant that everybody behaved with the utmost politeness whether they were biological or digital or they found their butts out on the street. It helped that yakitori was the sort of food that digimon with big-ass teeth and long jaws could eat gracefully. I _love_ udon but you _really_ don't want to watch me eat it. Think earthworms in a blender.

Just as we were leaving, I got the weirdest feeling, like little ghost ants were crawling all over me for a second. I stopped suddenly and so did Guilmon and Renamon. They'd felt it too. Guilmon was actually looking at his arms to see if there were insects on him.

"What is it?" asked Takato.

"I don't know," I said. "I felt a strange sort of energy for just an instant."

"It was sort of itchy," Guilmon added.

The sensation didn't return and as we had no way to connect it to anything and it hadn't seemed to be powerful or threatening, we pretty much forgot about it. Later, when Henry told us about a strange thing that had happened on that same night, none of us immediately connected the two events.

"My monitors picked up five digimon bioemerging at once, way out in Edogawa," he told us over lunch a couple of days afterwards. "There's a new Mega out near there so I gave him a call and asked him to handle it. I figured it would be good experience for him. He told me later that he could sense them and was closing in when they disappeared-- just vanished."

"Ninjamon?" Rika suggested.

"No, this kid's a phase-shifter too and would have detected that. I asked around the neighborhood the next day and talked to an old guy who got a look at them for a second and from his description they must have been Gazimon."

"A pack of Gazimon?" I asked. "They were up to no good, I guarantee it. They don't much like humans. In fact, there's only one I can think of off-hand that has a tamer-- some German goth girl who's even more misanthropic than her partner."

"Well, it's been a few days," Takato reasoned. "If they were going to cause trouble we should have heard something by now. Unless they really did just vanish for some reason."

"Even if there was a digimon powerful enough to kill them all within seconds, the Mega would have noticed," Renamon observed.

None of us could come up with any reasonable explanation, so we let the matter rest there. But that evening I started thinking about it again so I flew out to Edogawa and took a look around near the location Henry had described. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The neighborhood Mega sensed my presence and came to meet me.

"Good evening, my Lord Sovereign," he said politely and bowed deeply to me.

"Oh, don't bother with that," I told him, "Just call me Coyomon."

"Understood, Coyomon-dono," he said, equally as formal and bowed again.

I stifled a sigh. Some of the new guys were like that. They loved the pseudo-feudal lord-and-vassal stuff so who was I to spoil their fun?

"Can you show me the exact spot where the Gazimon came through?" I asked him.

"Yes, Lord Coyomon. This way, please." Another bow.

_Frikkin' Tesla! _I thought. _This one must play as much D&D as he does digimon stuff. That would explain all the fancy silver armor and the battle axe._

"As nearly as I can tell, this is the place, my Lord." he told me a few minutes later, gesturing at a perfectly ordinary suburban street corner.

On second glance, there was something a little strange about the place. Looking at it in the broader energy spectrum, there was a large patch of pavement that was washed-out looking. The translucent blue of the matter was paler than the surrounding area. I phased out completely and started to sink into the street. Odd.

I shifted back and damped down my senses so that I was only seeing normal matter and bent to look at the street. It didn't appear to be very different in the visible spectrum but there were little dark spots, like speckles, scattered irregularly over its surface. I poked it with a claw and the asphalt crumbled. I thought it might have been a little too easy, so I went over to the transition zone between the patch and the normal street and poked at both sides. The faded patch was definitely softer or _decayed_ or something.

I stood up and looked at the Mega who was watching me attentively. "Huh." Not exactly brilliant eloquence but what else was there to say?

I thought for a moment and then asked, "I don't suppose you noticed anything else unusual in the area that night?"

"No, my Lord," he said and then hesitated.

"Maybe a strange vehicle or person?"

He shook his head. "Just the usual traffic but--"

"Please," I encouraged him, "anything at all might be a help."

"Well, my Lord, I felt a brief tingling sensation just before the digimon vanished but I've never been near a digital field before and I thought--"

The light went on. "Like bugs crawling on your skin?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"That's it!" I cried. "Whatever got the Gazimon must have expended a lot of energy. We felt it all the way downtown!"

I commended the kid on doing a good job and asked him to keep an eye out for anything else suspicious.

-o--()--o-

We confirmed that digimon all over Tokyo had felt the weird sensation but didn't make much more headway than that for a few days. I crossed over to the Digital Dimension briefly to ask Kayamon if there were any new types of digimon that might emit that sort of energy during an attack. She had never encountered anything like what I described to her but earnestly assured me that she would be more than happy to kill it for us when we finally found it.

We sent messages to all the new Megas asking if they had experienced anything similar and only one replied.

At first we thought that we might be onto something. The girl, Lisette, told us that she'd felt the same sort of sensation several times when biomerged with her Gatomon partner. We were all set to fly half-way around the globe when Henry noticed something.

"Look where she lives," he said, pointing to the zoomed-in area of the map on the screen.

"Switzerland?" Takato asked. "Is that significant?"

Henry nodded. "Geneva. Right next to--" and he tapped the wall where it was displaying a large circular symbol. A label popped up over it reading: CERN.

"The Supercolider," he explained. "With the kind of energies they work with it's a wonder her skin isn't crawling _all_ the time!"

"Damnit" I growled. "That means we still know exactly _nothing!"_

"Well, at least we're on the alert now," Takato said. "If it happens again, we'll be ready for it."

Oh, bleeding Tesla, were we ever _not_ ready for it!

-o--()--o-

Three days latter a big damned Triceramon bioemerged in Ueno Park. One of the new Megas was nearby when it happened and pitched right in. When Sakuyamon and I showed up it was clear that the new guy was enjoying himself and was doing just fine so we stood by and watched, ready to do crowd control or step in if the combatants got too close to the nearby shrine.

Helicopters and miniblimps swarmed the area, as usual, and we took no notice of them-- until my skin began to crawl.

A pale beam of energy that would have been invisible to anyone whose vision was limited to the visible spectrum shot out from one of the helicopters overhead and washed over the the triceramon. It instantly fragmented into white-hot particles that burned themselves into nonexistence within a fraction of a second. The Mega screamed and collapsed, separating into tamer and digimon while still a meter or so above the ground. The boy hit like a wet sack of rice, unconscious, but his partner was still moving and tried to drag himself over to his tamer.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd that turned into worried chattering. They'd all seen enough digimon fights to know that something unusual was going on.

Sakuyamon instinctively ran to the partners, while I focused my attention on the helicopter. It was one of those light and fast little jobs with big ducted fans on stubby little winglets and it was executing a sharp turn away from the scene while all the rest of the aircraft were crowding in for a closer look.

I leaped into the air after it. I don't know what I was planning to do with the thing when I caught up with it-- I just wanted to stop it from getting away. Someone inside noticed me almost immediately and the 'copter spun around sharply. That's when I noticed the big tube-shaped object slung between its landing skids. The pilot was turning the machine to aim it directly at me. I started to dodge even before I felt the first slight sensation of tingling on my skin, which was a very good thing. I also phased out, which turned out to be completely useless.

The pale beam stabbed out of the tube and just touched the edge of my wing as I rolled out of its path. Pain seared though me and my tight roll turned into an uncontrolled tumble. I plowed through some trees (not doing them much damage, out of phase as I was) and skidded across a grassy lawn in a barely controlled landing as I slipped up and phased back in. The pilot of that little 'copter must have been damned good, because he spotted me as soon as I became visible and swung his craft back around to face me again.

I don't have any excuse for what I did then. That my wing was a mass of flaming agony was trivial. If mere pain could make me stupid, I'd have died a long time ago. I could have phased out again and run. I could have opened a dimensional portal under myself or in front of the 'copter. I could have done a dozen non-lethal things-- but I didn't.

I felt the briefest of tingles as I launched my Destroying Blade attack. The little helicopter shattered like delicate wineglass thrown against a stone wall. Flaming bits rained down all over the park and I had to race under the largest piece (what was left of the engine, I think) to bat it away from the dozen horrified onlookers that it was falling towards.

Sakuyamon was at my side an instant later. "Are you alright?" she asked me worriedly, glancing at my seared wing.

"I'll be fine," I told her without having any clue if I would or not. "How's the boy and his partner?"

The look of helplessness on her face was frightening. "Not good. The boy is very badly burned and his partner would have fragmented if I hadn't been right there to heal him."

I didn't understand. "Couldn't you do the same for the kid? His--"

"No!" There was real horror in her voice. "His digital net was damaged. Where his legs were burned, it was-- just _gone! _The medevac lifter has taken him to the hospital." She glanced around at the bits of flaming wreckage and called out to the bewildered crowd, "Is anyone injured?"

There was a general negative murmuring but one man called out, "What's going on?"

Damned good question, that.


	9. Damage Control

Chapter 9  
Damage Control

Minister Watanabe was at the hospital with the boy's parents when we arrived. The boy's partner was there too, standing in the corner of the room, silent-- waiting. They all looked up when we appeared and their conversation stopped dead. Their faces ran the full spectrum of emotions from Watanabe's rage and the father's confusion, to the mother's grief.

I can't say why Gabumon's desolation hit me the hardest. Maybe because I knew my face would have looked like that once-- if there had been anyone there to see it.

"How is he?" Sakuyamon asked.

"He's in surgery, now," Watanabe said. "The doctor said--"

The woman threw herself at Sakuyamon's feet, weeping and begging her to help her son. The boy's father tried to remain stoic but had to turn his face away from us. Sakuyamon helped the woman into a chair and tried to comfort her. Watanabe curtly motioned me to follow him into the hallway. I let him walk out of the waiting room doors by himself and then turned to Gabumon.

"I will do everything I can to help your tamer," I said quietly to him.

He wanted to believe-- but there was doubt in his voice as he whispered back to me, "They said they had to--" he stopped and squeezed his eyes shut, "--amputate," he continued without looking up again. "My legs were destroyed, too but Sakuyamon healed me. Why can't you--?"

"It's different with humans. Digital beings are so much simpler than biological ones. If Gen's digital net hadn't--" I stopped talking so suddenly that Gabumon looked up at me in surprise.

I stood up suddenly just as Watanabe was reentering the room-- looking like he was ready to blow steam out of his ears.

"Coyomon--" he began in voice of barely controlled rage.

"Sorry Minister-- can't chat just now," I smirked at him. "There's a young tamer that needs my help. Now, which way is the operating room?"

"Stop this nonsense!" Watanabe bellowed. "You are--"

I ignored him and turned to Sakuyamon and Gen's parents. "I'll be back as soon as possible but it may take me a few hours to get to a gate on the other side. Portals aren't an exact science, you know. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. C'mon, Gabumon!"

-o--()--o-

Rika told me later that I should have explained what I was going to do in a little more detail. Both the minister and Gen's parents would have been less "agitated"-- she said.

But, in my experience, trying to explain myself only leads to _more_ worry and endless stupid questions. I could have stayed and blah, blah, blahed half the night or I could have just gone and nabbed the kid off the operating table and popped him into the Digital Dimension where I could easily rebuild his legs. Which is precisely what I _did _do.

Okay, so it wasn't _really_ that easy. Even digitized, the kid didn't have the correct patterns for his lost bits encoded in the rest of his body like digimon did. So I had to hunt up one of the human residents to copy off of. I picked one of the _volunteer_ ex-patriots rather than a deportee even though it meant I had to spend a fair bit of time looking around for one. The people I'd banished to the Digital Dimension from Earth had mostly adjusted fairly well but that didn't mean they felt very kindly towards me.

With the limited number of examples I had to choose from, Gen's new feet weren't exactly the right size and had a deep tan that the rest of Gen's body lacked, but they _worked_ just fine.

"Thanks, Eric!" I told the owner of the original feet as we prepared to head for the nearest gate.

"Always happy to do you a weird-ass favor, Coyomon," he replied. "Look us up some time when you're not in such a hurry. We're headed out to one of the new worlds. The one that's mostly a shallow sea with lots of islands."

I nodded to him and his partner. "I know the one-- but I think I'm going to be kind of _busy_ in the near future."

-o--()--o-

Gen, Gabumon and I had some time to talk as I flew us to the River Portal. The last thing Gen remembered was being in the middle of the fight with Triceramon-- he didn't even remember getting hit with the beam weapon-- so his partner and I had to fill him in.

His most important questions, like who the attackers were and how they'd come up with their weapon, were ones I couldn't answer.

"Until we know more-- hell, until we know _anything_, I want you guys to lay low. No biomerging unless it's completely unavoidable. I think I'll have to reinstall your digital web once we get back to Earth and I'll give you energy shields at the same time. But the way that beam tore through that Triceramon, I don't know if they'll do any good. Right now the only defense seems to be not getting hit."

"But you destroyed the weapon, didn't you?" Gen asked.

_And three human beings along with it, _I thought with self-loathing.

"Coyomon?"

I shook myself out of my sudden sour mood and answered him. "I'm not willing to bet anyone's life that that was the only one. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was just the tip of the iceberg."

-o--()--o-

I dropped Gen off at the hospital. I took him home first but his parents weren't there and I remembered that I hadn't told them where I'd be returning to.

Sakuyamon had spent the entire time with them while also making calls to Henry and Takato and trying to keep Minister Watanabe from having a stroke. The Minister had left about an hour after I did and had threatened all sorts of dire consequences if I didn't contact him immediately after I returned.

We accepted the gratitude of Gen's parents as gracefully as possible. I, for one, was never comfortable with that sort of adulation and I don't think Rika was either. We were both relieved when they headed for home.

"So?" I asked of Sakuyamon when the doors of the elevator had closed.

"Council of war," she said curtly. "Everyone available is already at Henry's place waiting for us."

"Good," I said. "I'll give Watanabe a call from there."

-o--()--o-

The Ministry for Digital Relations hated me. From the lowliest clerk to Grand Poo-Bah Watanabe, they all recognized me as that age-old foe of bureaucrats everywhere: Someone who they couldn't control. For them, freedom was a great concept-- as long as it was strictly regulated and administered.

I suppose they all meant well but I just thought that I knew how to handle digimon matters better than they did. They did goofy crap like purposely refusing to hire anyone who'd ever played the card game or been a fan of the TV show on the grounds that they'd be _biased_. Oh, they all could rattle off digimon species and stats like crazy but none of them had a real _feel_ for what digital life was really like.

I knew I'd really pissed off Watanabe and figured I ought to make nice with him in front of everyone else. He _was_ working toward the same goal as I was, after all. When he appeared on the wall screen I knew I was in for trouble-- his face was a perfectly neutral mask of politeness.

"Thank you so much for contacting me in such a timely manner," he said. "I have some information to share with you and your companions."

"Uh-- look, I'm sorry I didn't explain what I was up to, Minister." I said in the most honest tone of contriteness I could muster. "I sometimes get a little too enthusiastic when I get a good idea--"

"Yes," he said, "I have noticed that. But that is in the past and the boy is well and his parents are-- relieved. We must turn our attention to the future and what we may salvage from this disaster." Yeesh! He wasn't going to budge an inch. I supposed I would have to just put up with it.

"The cover story we have devised is that the helicopter was, in fact, a wild digimon. The videos of its destruction _do_ look similar to the data fragmentation pattern of a defeated digital life form and as the occupants were burned to ash so thoroughly that there was not even any DNA left, we believe that most people will accept the official explanation." He made a gesture and some reworked vid clips popped up on the wall that made the 'copter look more like a living being without being obviously phony.

"We are investigating this matter as thoroughly as possible given that you completely destroyed any physical evidence and we only have your version of the incident to go on," he continued. Everybody in the room was wincing and giving me "Ouch!" looks.

"Look, Watanabe-san, I'm very sorry--"

"I'm sure you are. You _always_ are," he said as he looked down and shuffled some printouts on his desktop. "But your regrets will be of no help in this situation. What I need from you-- _and_ your companions-- is an assurance that none of you will act in a rash manner if you come across any clue as to who is behind these acts."

"But they tried to kill--" Rika started to say.

Watanabe cut her off. "They _did_ kill wild and destructive digimon-- something that any of you would have done in the normal course of your duties. We believe the tamer's injuries were accidental. He was merely standing too close to the Triceramon."

Rika wasn't about to be put off. "What about Yeii Coyomon? They turned to attack him!"

"We only have his word for that and he was pursuing them at the time. They may have been acting in pure self-defense."

Rika's reacted as if the Minister had slapped her and her aura flared in an alarming manner. "Why you miserable old _toad!_ You think you can--"

"I see that you are not in a frame of mind to discus this manner rationally, Ms. Nonaka. We will speak again when you are in control of your emotions." The screen went blank.

"I will _fucking KILL HIM!"_ Rika shouted.

It took a while to get everyone calmed down. Takato really _was_ a natural leader but he sure had his work cut out for him that evening. It was Terriermon who finally did the trick. He puffed himself up, flopped one ear over his head in an imitation of Watanabe's pathetic comb-over and wrapped the other one around his waist for a middle-aged paunch, and muttered angrily in a good mimic of the Minister's voice, "These digimon! They cause nothing but trouble! They won't conform! They won't obey! They refuse to fill out the proper paperwork!"

Everyone laughed until tears streaked their cheeks and the tension drained out of the room.

We hashed out a rough plan in a few hours. All we really could do was spread the word about the mysterious new weapon. We had to assume that if the guys who had made it could have made it smaller they _would_ have. The one on the helicopter had been just over two meters long and as big around as a sewer pipe, so that's the description we sent out to the Megas via digignomes.

I was dead set against anyone risking their lives to do it, but Henry pointed out that until we actually got hold of one of the mysterious weapons or captured one of the men behind it, we were operating completely blind.

"Maybe there was only one," Jeri said hopefully. "Maybe the builders were testing it and Coyomon-- uh-- _got_ them all."

_Killed, Jeri,_ I thought bitterly, _you mean killed, even though you won't say it._

Takato hugged his young bride from behind and gave her a tender kiss on the cheek. "Let's hope you're right."

I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and turned to see Renamon's hand resting there, lightly. "If there's nothing to be done, do nothing," she said in her most infuriatingly serene Taoist manner. "Or-- send out for pizza and beer."

The approval was unanimous.

We chatted on for some time, catching up with each other and doing our best to relax. Kazu told some unintentionally hilarious stories about his last girlfriend and their trip to Australia. Henry and Susie were starting in on their China trip when the wall chimed softly and displayed an icon indicating that there was someone at the door.

"Yeah! Pizza!" Kazu cried.

"Wait," Henry said urgently, "The house is programmed not to let anyone onto the grounds who isn't on the approved list. The delivery guy should still be at the outer gate." We all looked around in puzzlement. Kenta was in San Francisco and every other person who might be on the list was in the room.

There was a sudden worried silence and as Henry reached out to turn on the door camera I looked through the walls and got a preview of the shitstorm that was going to blow through my personal life in about three seconds.

It was Ryo.

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Notes:**

**There's a link to a new picture of Renamon and Coyomon on my bio page. A friend of mine commissioned it for me. It was supposed to be full color but the artist got buried under school work before finishing it. But even as a rough shaded sketch, it's pretty cool! **

**Thanks to NKC for inspiring the title for this chapter.**

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**


	10. Complications

Chapter 10  
Complications

I didn't know right away it was going to be a bad scene. I liked Ryo. Oh, we were never best buddies or anything like that-- he was _way_ too much of a serious, straight-arrow type for us to really enjoy each other's company-- but he was a damned good tamer, a strong and independent type who had been a valuable fighting companion for many years. And even if he had been an utter scumbag I would have considered him a worthy person because of the happiness he had given Rika for several years.

I guess I was also grateful to him that he was foolish enough to let Rika break up with him.

The mood in the room as Henry let him in was a bit tense and awkward which was perfectly understandable. But, hey, we were all mature and responsible types-- okay, okay, I've been told often enough that I'm anything _but_ mature and responsible but as Sovereign, I really did feel I had to _try. _I could handle it.

Ryo still had his rough traveling clothes on and smelled of the dust of the Iron Desert. He must have just gotten back from the Digital Dimension. Cyberdramon loomed behind him like a big, vicious, stupid shadow-- as usual.

"Hi guys." Ryo said. "How're things going?"

"Somebody's invented a weapon that kills digimon instantly and damn near killed a tamer and me," I told him. "We still don't know who it is."

Ryo goggled at me for a second and then half smiled, assuming it was another one of my jokes but one look around the room convinced him that I was deadly serious.

"Well," he said, rubbing the back of his head and grinning in that disarmingly boyish way of his, "I guess I'd better give you guys a hand, huh?"

"At this point we could use all the help we can get," Takato said.

Throughout this exchange Rika had been watching Ryo with an almost _fond_ look on her face. She rose to her feet and went to him. He hesitated, not knowing what sort of welcome to expect from her.

"Ryo, can I talk to you for a minute, privately?" she asked.

"Of course."

She led him out of the room and as she did so I sent a thought into her mind, _Rika? _Meaning, "Shall I keep an eye on you?"

She shook her head slightly as she passed through the doorway and I damped down my senses to a normal human range.

The funny thing was, I expected Ryo to be okay with the situation. He'd been gone for almost a year, so he'd _obviously_ given up on getting back together with her. He couldn't be holding any hard feelings against her-- not against someone as wonderful as _Rika! _If she was happy then he would certainly be happy _for_ her-- wouldn't he?

Those were the sort of foolish thoughts going through my head until the shouting started. Renamon and Cyberdramon both stated growling, disturbed by their tamers' emotional turmoil.

Everyone else just froze in embarrassment. I summoned up portal-making energy in case I needed to dump Ryo and Cyberdramon back into the Digital Dimension to prevent bloodshed. A few moments later Ryo burst out of the other room and grabbed up his backpack from where he'd dropped it near the front door. Rika followed him and when I saw the tears on her face my lips peeled back from my fangs.

Ryo cast me one poisonous glance and then turned to Rika. "With _him?_ What the hell is _wrong_ with you?"

I didn't know I'd started forward until Guilmon grabbed my arm. "Please don't fight!" he pleaded. He was speaking as much to Ryo and Rika as to me.

"I don't care what you think of me, Ryo, but I love Rika and I won't let you insult her." I growled through my teeth.

He glared at me for a second and then asked, "Did you _plan_ this? Is that why you threw me into the Digital Dimension? To get me out of the way so you could--"

Rika turned to me in surprise. "You did _what?"_

"He didn't tell you?" Ryo scoffed. "After our last fight he dropped me and Cyberdramon way out in the East Realm. It would have taken me _weeks_ to get back to Earth from there."

Rika kept looking at me in horror and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Rika--" How was I going to explain what had happened without it looking like I was making lame excuses? "Wait a minute--" I turned back to Ryo. "If it should have taken you weeks, how come it took you damn near a _year?"_

"Well-- I--" Ryo hesitated.

"Buddy, if it was _me_ and I was dragging two bloody stumps, it wouldn't have taken me a single _instant_ longer than necessary to get back to her! And if it was such a frikkin' surprise, how come you had time to pack a bag?" I made a curt gesture toward the backpack he was holding.

Rika gave one gasping sob, shoved Ryo aside, and ran out the front door. Renamon phased out and went after her. I followed but Renamon turned and barred my way. "Let her go."

"Never."

"You know what I mean," Renamon said, her voice softening a little. "She's going to need some time."

"Yeah," I sighed in resignation. "Go. But tell her--"

"I will."

-o--()--o-

I didn't go back inside. They say misery loves company but I didn't want to inflict my misery on my friends so I figured I'd look up-- well-- someone who wasn't _exactly_ a friend.

I sent off a digignome and about an hour and a half later I heard a familiar commotion. The blare of horns and the screech of brakes blended with the roar of a monstrously powerful engine to herald the arrival of the digimon I'd sent for. Traffic laws were just a vague set of suggestions as far as he was concerned.

The great black motorcycle, Behemoth slid around a corner, laying two broad stripes of black rubber on the pavement, and bounced up over the curb and onto the sidewalk where I was standing.

"Heya, dog-boy!" Beelzemon grinned at me. "Long time, no see!"

I hopped on behind him, feeling the tingle of energy as Behemoth tried to annihilate me. I'm fairly sure it knew the effort was futile, but it had to keep up appearances. "Drive," I told Beelzelmon. "Let's get the hell out of this city for a while."

"Alright!" he cheered, _"Road trip!"_

Behemoth's front end reared up as its rear tire ripped at the pavement and poured choking smoke into the air and we were off.

-o--()--o-

As much as I would have loved to go tearing up and down Japan for a few days, entertaining folks in a train wreck sort of way, I knew I had to be close at hand should the digimon killers resurface. So, after a few hours of ripping along the highways we settled for chasing a bunch of college kids out of a campground and having a little drinking / bitching festival.

"Y'know, that's a helluva bike you've got there Beelzemon," I said, waving my bottle of shochu at the hulking Behemoth."Howcome a bastard like you gets such a cool toy?"

"'Cause I'm about ten times cooler than _you_ are dog-boy," he sneered at me.

I spat a mouthful of the shochu into the campfire, making it flare up briefly. "In your dreams, three-eyes."

He seemed to find this funny for some reason and laughed that irritating sand-on-sheet-metal laugh of his. For guys who had done their best to kill each other a couple of times, we got along fairly well together. "Nothin's cooler than black leather and spikes," he said, squeezing his fist to make his studded gauntlet creak. "All _you_ got is feathers and fringe-- girly crap!"

"Chicks _dig_ the feathers!" Tesla's eye teeth! A couple of hours with Beelzemon and I was already beginning to talk like a biker. He was a bad influence.

"Simpering _girly_ chics, maybe."

"Like either Renamon or Rika is the girly type?"

That shut him up. He grabbed the bottle from me and took a big swig. Finally he looked over at me and said, simply, "Trade ya."

"Not in a million years."

"Figured," he grunted.

"Besides," I said miserably, "I don't know if Rika's even going to want me around after tonight. She may think I actually tried to break her and Ryo up or something. The pain she went through after that--" I trailed off and took the bottle back from Beelzemon. "And if I'm on the outs with Rika, what'll happen with Renamon and I?"

"You sissy-assed coyote!" he sneered at me.

"I'm telling you, the fringe and the feathers--"

"Naw, I don't mean that, dog-boy. I mean you whimpering on about how Rika may not forgive you. Grow a goddamned spine, already!"

"But I don't want to lose her! If she thinks--"

"Thinks, schminks," he growled at me. "If people fell in love with their _brains_ the world would be pretty damed boring!"

I was getting pretty frikkin' sick of everybody being smarter than me. I slapped myself in the forehead-- _hard._

"I'll do that for you, pal," Beelzemon offered.

"Crap!" I muttered to myself. "Cherry blossom season is over."

Beezlemon looked at me, two of his three eyes squinted up. "Did ya smack yerself a bit too hard, there, dog-boy? Yer not makin' a whole lot of sense."

"Cherry blossoms," I explained. "They're Rika's favorite flower-- not that she usually admits to liking anything as 'girly' as flowers. I want to fill her apartment with them! A _big_ gesture-- from the heart, you know?"

Beelzemon chucked. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll _love_ having to shovel a ton of flower petals out of her place!"

"Well, damnit, I need to do _something!_ And not just anything-- something only I can do. Something that'll show her-- how much-- I--"

Beelzelmon waved a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Coyomon!"

Digignomes began to drift down out of the darkness in heed of my mental summons. They circled slowly as I silently gave them their instructions.

Beelzemon waved one away from his face. "Get away from me, you overgrown moth! Jeeze, Coyomon! You know these things creep me out! Could you maybe do your office work some other time?"

"Sorry. Brainstorm. Besides, you'd think the 'Lord of the Flies' wouldn't mind a few 'moths'." I said out of the corner of my mouth.

"Huh?"

"Folklore reference, you illiterate thug. You'd think you'd know more about your own mythos!"

"Ahh--" he waved a hand at me dismissively. "You're always going on about folklore and myths and crap! More sissy stuff!"

The digignomes swirled away, up into the sky as Beelzemon fished a slightly bent cigar out of his jacket He leaned back and held the end of the cigar in front of Behemoth's exhaust pipe. The big bike roared to life briefly, jetting flame out of its tailpipes and igniting the stogy. Beelzemon took a long drag of the foul-smelling smoke and exhaled in noisy satisfaction. "Ahhhh! So what's the plan, dog-boy?"

"I'm the Sovereign, right? Well, what's power for if you can't abuse it every once in a while?"

He squinted at me. "You don't do anything _but_ abuse it, seems to me. How many damned Megas we got runnin' around now?"

"Hey! That operation is working out pretty well! In fact--"

"Got a thank-you note from Watanabe, did ya? Did he pat you on yer head?"

"Screw you Beelzemon! If you're going to be an asshole, I'm not telling you my brilliant plan!"

"Fine by me," he said, sucking most of the rest of the cigar into his lungs and flicking the butt into the fire. "It'll be funnier as a surprise anyway."

-o--()--o-

I went back to Tokyo in the early morning and sent a mental call out to Renamon. She came up to the rooftop to meet me.

"Rika's still asleep," she told me. "She had a bad night."

"I'm so sorry about that. Did you--"

Renamon sighed. One of _those_ sighs. "She _knows_ you love her, Coyomon. But she also thinks you lied to her-- a lie of omission at least. She's unsure of your motive and very unhappy about that."

"I just didn't think it was important! Ryo was taking off anyway. Hell, I was trying to argue him _out_ of leaving her. That's what caused the whole ruckus in the first place."

"Then maybe you should explain that to Rika?"

"Is she in a mood to listen?" I shook my head. "No, I think I've got a better idea. Y'see--"

"Renamon frowned. "Coyomon-- _really_-- you should--"

We were interrupted by an urgent electronic alarm from somewhere inside my vest. I pulled out the SMU and looked at the screen. It was Takato. I flicked the accept button and the screen came to life.

"We've got a lead on the Digimon Killer weapon," Takato told me. "We need to get on this as soon as possible. Can you meet us at Henry's house right away? We may be gone for a several days."

Renamon nodded. "I'll go wake Rika." She phased out.

"One thing, Takato."

"Yes?"

"Is Ryo coming with us?"

Takato blinked in surprise. "He-- he left Henry's place last night just a half hour after you did. You didn't see him?"

"No, why should I?"

"Well, we sort of got the impression he was going to find you."

From off-screen came Guilmon's voice. "He said he was going to tear strips off of you. Was that a joke?"

"That depends on your sense of humor, little buddy." I said ruefully.


	11. Revelations

Chapter 11  
Revelations

I'm a digimon. I _enjoy_ a good fight. So the silent treatment is probably the worst thing Rika could do to me-- and she knew it.

I felt her biomerge with Renamon in the apartment below and walk out onto the balcony. I shifted into my Mega form. Sakuyamon leaped into the air, heading for Henry's place and I swooped down beside her, on her left, as usual.

"Want to talk?" I asked.

"No."

"Okay, then."

We flew on in silence.

We were the last to arrive at Henry's. We walked into the main room and saw that the rest of the team were just finishing up a teleconference call. The three humans on the wall I recognized as new Mega tamers. Lisette from Switzerland and two others whose names I couldn't bring to mind immediately.

"It looks like we've got it sorted over here," the young British guy with the Patamon partner was saying. He looked worn out and his partner was draped over one of his shoulders, wings and eyelids drooping from exhaustion.

"Damned good work," Takato told him, "Are you going to have any trouble with the police?"

"I doubt it. Scotland Yard and INTERPOL officers are all over the ruins of the factory. It looks like they were breaking all sorts of laws-- as well as arms treaties if those DK things can be classified as weapons. They pretty much labeled themselves as the bad guys as far as everyone's concerned when they opened up on us with highly illegal conventional weapons as well."

"Good," Takato nodded. "Go get some sleep. You look half dead."

"Too right." Patamon mumbled.

That third of the wall blanked out and Takato turned to Lisette. "Any luck tracking down the guys behind this?"

"I'm afraid not." I have the names of two of the scientists that were working at the CERN lab that developed the original design but they seem to have vanished. They have some known industrial contacts but so far those are dead-ends." She looked to one side for a moment and an info box sprang up beside her image. "I'm sending all the details to your house system. This is the same information I gave to INTERPOL."

"Thank you very much," Takato said. "I'm sorry we didn't take your earlier information more seriously. Maybe we could have stopped these guys before they spread out."

"There's no way you could have known, cutie," Lisette's Gatomon partner chirped cheerfully.

"Oh-- uh--" Takato stuttered.

"Doesn't he blush nicely?" Lisette murmured to her feline companion.

Gatomon nodded. "So sweet and innocent! I could just eat him up!" She licked her chops.

Jeri frowned and cleared her throat pointedly. Lisette and Gatomon, with matching mischievous smiles, waved goodbye and signed off.

"Okay," Takato pressed on, still red in the face, "Do you have anything to add?" he asked, turning to the third Mega tamer, an American.

"Nope. That's pretty much it." The guy reached out to tap his desktop as if he were signing off but instead of the screen going dark, a red encryption icon started to flash below his image.

Henry quickly tapped out a sequence on the pad he was holding and the icon turned a steady green.

"We good?" the American asked.

"Yes," said Henry, "I'm using a security code developed by my father. Anyone who could possibly break it is living in the Digital Dimension."

"Okay, I think you're going to like this!" The guy pulled a little micro camera out of his pocket and pointed it to one side. Another frame popped up on the wall showing the feed from the camera.

"Holy crap!" Takato said and the rest of us muttered in surprise. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep!" The guy couldn't keep a smug grin off of his face-- and who could blame him? "_That_ is a pristine, working DK weapon. The only one to survive the destruction of the factory in Arizona. I thought the feds wouldn't be able to _appreciate_ it properly. I can get it to you in about five hours."

I laughed out loud. "Dude! You're awesome!" I told him.

His grin nearly split his face.

-o--()--o-

Henry tried to bring Sakuyamon and me up to speed in his usual science-nerd way. He said it had something to do with "quantum entanglement", whatever the hell _that_ was. Some high-energy lab at CERN was trying to develop a way to teleport information, thereby making computer networks transfer data faster than the speed of light. They failed but what they _did_ come up with was a ray that would cause instant disintegration of the pseudo-matter that all digimon were composed of.

The science guys that did it suddenly packed up all their equipment and trucked it away in the dead of night-- about three weeks before the first known attack.

"How'd we find out all this?" I asked.

"Some of it's guesswork but after we first talked to her, Lisette got curious and started poking around. She somehow managed to get a lot of information out of the workers at CERN and put the whole thing together."

I remembered her sly grin and thought, _There's no 'somehow' about it. A coquette like Lisette against all those nerdy science types? No contest._

"And the factories?"

"Lisette spread the word among the Megas as soon as she was sure what had happened. Two places were detected as they tested their weapons. The local Megas went in to investigate and-- well, all hell broke loose. A couple of lower levels that went into support their Megas were deleted and one of the tamers in England was shot. He should be okay, though."

"Why'd they rush in without waiting for us?" I asked.

"There were messages waiting for us but we were kind of distracted yesterday, if you remember." Takato said gently and then grinned. "Besides-- _you_ picked these guys, Coyomon. Were any of them the 'good little soldier' types?"

"Okay, point taken," I said. "But why all the destruction? Didn't they capture any of the workers?"

"They were ready for an attack. The explosions were all self-destruct charges and the workers were heavily armed. The ones that didn't get away--" Takato paused and grimaced, "--they killed themselves. Some shot themselves but they all had poison capsules."

"Holy frikkin' Tesla! You're kidding me!"

Takato shook his head grimly. "I wish I was."

"That means we're up against fanatics of some sort. We can't count on them restraining themselves in any way." The full scope of our problem was beginning to dawn on me. "And there's got to be more of those damned factories around. We've got to get every available digimon searching for them!"

"Already on it," said Henry. "That's what I figured we'd all be doing for the next couple of days at least."

"And I'm researching digimon hate-groups," said Jeri. "These people are well funded. I'm sure I'll be able to find the money trail sooner or later."

"What else?" I asked.

"As soon as we get that DK weapon from Arizona, we get in contact with Ministers Watanabe and Ito and see if they can't get their people to take the damed thing apart, figure out how it works, and maybe find a defense against it." Takato said. "If there are factories out there turning out hundreds, maybe thousands of these things--"

He didn't have to continue. We all could picture what those weapons would do in the hands of fanatical digimon haters. It would make the D-Reaper look like a cranky puppy.

"In the meantime," Takato said, "we should spread out and search for factories or caches of these weapons. We should all go separately .We don't want to present an easy target now that our enemy knows we're aware of what's going on. Don't return to your homes and try to remain low-profile wherever you go. Keep your SMUs with you."

"Okay," I said, "two things first--" Scores of digignomes started fading in through the walls of the house. "First, I'm revoking my prohibition against harming humans for anyone connected with this DK weapon. I don't want to have any tamers or their digimon killed because they hesitated to act against my will or feared retribution from me." The cloud of digignomes thickened and then dissipated as they scattered to carry my message.

"Second-- does Ryo know about this?" I asked.

"No," Henry said, "he doesn't have an SMU and we don't know where he is."

"Okay, then," I said, "I'll go find him."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Sakuyamon asked.

It was the first thing she'd said to me since we left her apartment. Hell, it was the first time she'd _looked_ at me since then.

"Anybody else in the room with Sovereign senses?" I asked. "He's in as much danger as the rest of us and I'm the only one who can find him within minutes. Don't worry, we'll put off beating each other senseless until we're out of deadly peril."

"You seem pretty sure of that," Ryo said from the doorway.

"Shit!" I exclaimed in surprise and then turned to face him. He was smirking at me, the bastard. "You're timing is awfully convenient, _Wonder Boy_." I growled, embarrassed at letting my attention wander enough to let him sneak up on me. When dealing with humans, even tamers, I usually damped down my senses to the immediate room out of politeness, so that I wouldn't constantly be reacting to things they couldn't see or hear, but that was no excuse. I should have been more wary.

He shrugged. "I just followed all the Megas. I've been looking for you and I figured they were--"

"Oh crap! _Oh CRAP!"_ I shouted. I had totally forgotten about the "big gesture" I'd arranged for Rika. It was supposed to be in the park across from her apartment but the gathering Megas could sense my presence when I was in my "unveiled" Yeii Coyomon form and must have followed me to Henry's house..

My panic was infectious. "What is it? What's happening?" cried Jeri.

"Coyomon!" Takato shouted. "What the hell have you done now?"

"I'll fix it! I'll fix it!" I yelled, racing for the door.

Ryo was confused by the commotion he had unwittingly triggered and for a second must have thought that I was charging to attack him. Cyberdramon leaped in front of his tamer and swung a vicious clawed attack at my head. I flickered out of phase long enough to pass through both of them and then I was out the door.

Stomping across the manicured landscaping of Henry's front garden were nearly a hundred biomerged Megas.

I waved my hands frantically at them all. "It's off! It's off! Go away! Didn't you get my latest digignome? Shoo!"

They had been forming up in a big semi-circle and now started milling around in confusion. "My Lord?" asked one of them.

I had let my senses spread back out to their fullest trying desperately to sense if any of the crowd of circling aircraft were carrying a DK weapon, and so I felt Sakuyamon emerge from the house, followed by the others. As soon as the Megas saw her, they grew less confused. She was the reason they were all here after all. Led by the big silver-armored digimon in front they all saluted and cried out in unison.

"ALL HAIL SAKUYAMON! SOVEREIGN LADY AND DIGIMON QUEEN!" Then they all cheered so loudly none of them could hear me shouting, "Oh, for Tesla's sake! Get the hell off of the shrubbery!"

I turned to see how Sakuyamon was taking it. Outwardly she was as serene and confident-seeming as usual, looking out across the crowd of cheering Mega as if she was, indeed, their queen. She even managed a slight nod of acknowledgment, which made the Megas cheer even louder. But her aura--

I've never seen a nuclear reactor about to go critical but I imagine that it would look something like Sakuyamon's aura at that moment: Pure, raw emotion radiating from her like a nova. It was shock-- not yet anger or joy but certainly heading toward one or the other.

I suppose what kicked her over the edge was the laughter. Almost everybody was stunned into silence but there were two figures who had a different reaction. One was Beelzemon. He had obviously followed the Megas as they gathered, and sat atop the garden wall, tears of laughter streaming from all three eyes. As I watched, he actually lost his balance and toppled off the wall and into the koi pond.

The other was Ryo.

He'd been prepared for the ruckus, having seen the gathering crowd before he'd made his entrance. He leaned back against Cyberdramon's chest and howled with laughter-- the bastard. Oh yeah-- I'd screwed up big time and he was just _wallowing _in it.

Sakuyamon looked from him to me and back again and her aura rippled into violent red sheets of flame. I'd never seen her so angry.

She threw herself into the air so violently that she shook leaves off of a nearby tree. A miniblimp full of cameramen rocked wildly in the turbulence of her wake and she disappeared from sight within seconds.

-o--()--o-

"'Try to remain low-profile', I said," grumbled Takato as we walked around the house to the garage. "Why do I waste my time even _trying_ to talk to you?"

"Look Takato, I had this all arranged before I knew about the factories and stuff!" I protested. "They're gone now and I'll fix the damage to Henry's grounds."

"I suppose," Takato sighed, squeezed his eyes shut, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Poor Guilmon was slinking behind Takato, his big bat-wing ears drooping. He hated any sort of trouble between members of the "gang". He hesitated and then said quietly, "Shouldn't we be looking for the bad people?"

"Yes, Guilmon, we're going now," Takato said as he opened the garage door to reveal a small white minivan. He opened the rear doors. "Get in."

"Aren't we going to biomerge?" the little red dragon asked.

"We'd be too big of a target, boy," Takato told him. "Think of this as an undercover operation. Spy stuff."

"Like James Bond?"

"Hopefully with fewer explosions."

While Takato loaded Guilmon into the back I strolled around to the front of the van. Another idea had been going through my mind since my booze-up with Beelzemon and I thought this might be the perfect time to try it out. I pulled a digignome out of my jacket and pressed the little guy against the metal of the hood. It trilled happily at me, joyous at the thought of being useful. I fused it with the van, transforming it into a digital web that spread to every part of the vehicle.

Takato shut the rear doors and came around to the driver's door and climbed in. We wished each other good luck and he started the engine. Just before he backed out of the garage I patted the side of the van and whispered to it, "Take care of them."


	12. Surprises

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**I left out the British and American tamers' names in the last chapter (and the American's digimon type) because I thought they'd just be walk-ons. But reading back over the chapter it feels awkward and I think I should go back and correct that. Any suggestions for the names/digimon? **

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

Chapter 12  
Surprises

Takato, Jeri, Ryo, and Kazu were scattering across Japan-- waiting for a tingling sensation that might give them a clue where the weapons were being stored or manufactured. I had sent out instructions world-wide for digimon and their tamers everywhere to do the same even though I thought it was probably useless. The people behind the DK weapon might be fanatics but they weren't stupid. After the attacks on their factories they had to know that we could somehow detect an active weapon. I was sure they wouldn't fire one again unless it was a serious attack.

Henry and Terriermon were at the Ministry of Defense waiting for the captured DK weapon to be delivered. I planned on joining them when it got there but not before. My Sovereign senses could tell them a lot about the thing almost instantly but there was no way I was going to stand around listening to a bunch of government mucky-mucks make mouth-music at each other in the meantime. That gave me a few hours to kill.

I told myself I might as well scan the area as well as I could with my Sovereign senses-- I might pick up something. Yeah, I lie to myself a lot.

I phased out and perched on top of the Sony Tower's communications mast, letting my senses expand across the city. There were a heck of a lot of digimon out there, including a few Megas who had biomerged in defiance of the express wishes of their Sovereign. I made a mental note to look them up later and congratulate them for their independence-- and then kick their butts (a bit) for needlessly endangering themselves.

But the Mega I was _really_ looking for wasn't in the city.

I let my senses expand still further and the images I got became fuzzy and pale with distance. Electricity, heat, matter, and bioenergy faded into each other until at the very limits of my perception there was nothing but a soft haze.

And one tiny spark.

I narrowed my focus and turned in the direction of that point of energy. I strained, closing down all other input until I could view the distant scene clearly. My heart leaped in my chest. It was Sakuyamon. Even at that moment I tried to tell myself that I hadn't been specifically searching for her but that didn't stop me from concentrating all my will on her.

She was on Mt. Fugi, at the top of the long hiking trail. There was a crowd of people around her and she was smiling at them. I wish I could have heard what they were saying. I was used to a more raucous sort of crowd because anyone who was a fan of _mine_ was usually an uninhibited sort. But these people were being unbelievably polite-- almost formal. Sakuyamon let them take pictures with her and seemed to be speaking kindly with a lot of them. Some had bowed all the way to the ground.

The sight of her made me ache for her company and cringe in regret at the same time. I couldn't leave well enough alone. I sent a thought to her, just a tiny, feather-light touch on her consciousness to let her know I wanted to talk.

She tucked her staff into the crook of one arm and rose slowly above the crowd, one hand raised as if in a benediction. A swirl of cherry blossom petals drifted over the people below and they clutched at them as if they were great treasures.

Sakuyamon slowly phased out, disappearing from human sight as she began to rise higher into the air. I felt her mind open to me, questioningly.

_Sakuyamon, I'm so sorry_. I told her silently._ I made a huge mistake this morning_.

She flew toward the city without replying for a moment and then thought, _You admit to making a mistake?_

It really wasn't the time for levity or smart-assed remarks but that sort of stuff is like a _disease_ with me. _If you tell anybody I said that, I'll deny it! It was only a matter of scale after all._

_Oh?_

_Yeah,_ I replied, this time being perfectly serious, _You aren't a queen or even a mere Sovereign-- you're a goddess! I can't tell you how sorry I am for embarrassing you this morning. I'll do anything to make it up to you. If you want me to go throw myself off a cliff, I'll gladly do it!_

_What good will that do?_

_I'll pick a really high one with sharp rocks at the bottom and I won't use my wings, I promise! It'll probably sting like hell!_

Oh how I wish I could have heard the laugh I saw then!

She didn't reply immediately but changed her course, heading North, and then said, _I have a better way for you to make amends. Follow me._

I was away from the city like a rocket. I slowly matched my flightpath with hers, keeping myself out of phase as she was, and carefully maintained a respectful distance.

She lead me to an isolated mountaintop and gestured for me to land. I did so and she floated in the air in front of me, just a shot distance above the ground. She let her staff drop and it stuck in the ground and became a cherry tree sapling. I hadn't known she could do that.

"What do you have to apologize for?" she asked me quietly.

_Okay,_ I thought to myself, _I guess she's going to rake me over the coals. Well, I don't care. If it will make her happy again, I'll put up with anything._

"For not telling you about what happened the night Ryo left. For my clumsy attempt to honor you. For making you angry. For--"

"Oh, _shut up_ you dim-witted coyote!" she snapped at me. "You're such a fool you don't even know when you've been wise!"

"Huh?"

"You don't have a damned _thing_ to apologize for! The Mega thing was lovely-- well, in _concept_ if not execution, anyway. And as for making me angry? It wasn't _you_ that did it! God, you looked so adorable, all panicky and frantic." She chuckled and shook her head at the memory. "No, it was _Ryo_ that ruined it for me. He laughed, the bastard!"

"Um-- it was _me_ he was laughing at."

"I know, but--" she paused and then looked directly into my eyes. "What would _you_ have done in his place? Used it as an excuse to heap scorn on your rival?"

"I suppose so--"

"No!" she snapped. "Think about it. Put yourself in his place. What would you have done?"

I _did_ think about it. There was a moment there, when she had nodded to them and the Megas had cheered all the louder, not because they were following my orders, but because they truly did _revere_ her.

"I--"

"Yes? The _truth_, flea-bag."

"I would have cheered along with the rest of them."

She nodded and drifted closer, reaching up to remove her mask. She let it fall from her hand, and where it hit the ground and vanished, flowers sprang up. She took my muzzle in her hands and kissed me lightly. The air between us began to hum softly.

She brushed her shoulder armor off with a graceful gesture and let her gauntlets fall from her hands. I reached up a tentative hand and she encouraged me with a nod, so I touched her breastplate and it fell away. She took hold of the shoulders of my jacket and peeled it off of me and then slid her hands inside of the waistband of my pants and pushed down. The air began to crackle with electricity.

The rest of her golden armor fell away and I pulled her tightly against me, reveling in the feel of her beautiful body against mine. Every sweet curve seemed perfectly made to fill my senses with delight.

"Wait," she said, pulling away from me. The flow of energy between us lessened as she held me at arm's length.

I tilted my head questioningly as she drew back but she only smiled in answer and floated away another meter or so. I had begun to wonder if I had done something wrong.

She lifted her hands to her head and pulled away her black silk cowl, revealing her beautiful face. She continued to slowly remove her last layer of clothing, letting me fully enjoy the sight of her.

There are no words to describe how magnificent she was. She had all of Rika's youthful grace and supple curves but incredibly magnified in a way I can't possibly convey and Renamon's powerful, animal vitality radiated from her sensual and feminine form like a sunburst of energy. I drank in the sight of her like it was life itself.

Her perfect beauty filled me with such desire that I felt dizzy and light-headed but the thing that gave me pure joy was the look in her eyes as she returned my gaze.

We reached out toward each other. My fur stirred and Sakuyamon's hair started to ripple and move with the electricity that began to flow between us. When we touched there was a powerful surge of energy that made the air around us sparkle and fluoresce. Our arms slid around each other and our mouths met and the world disappeared.

-o--()--o-

We didn't get back to Tokyo until late afternoon. We'd missed the delivery of the DK weapon but I figured we'd find someone at the MDR to fill us in on what they'd learned so far and I could scope the thing out for them. Watanabe's secretary took one look at us, frantically whispered into her headset and then stood and bowed.

"The Minister and Mr. Wong are waiting for you in the auditorium" she told us, looking like a rabbit who's just found a fox in her burrow. "I can call for someone to escort you there--"

"We know where it is," I told her, casually waving her back into her seat. "Don't worry, we'll make nice with ol' sourpuss."

She made a stifled choking noise at the disrespect I had shown her boss. People really shouldn't be such easy targets.

I burst though the doors of the auditorium will a cheerful laugh and yelled out, "Hey, hey! Your worries are over! Yeii Coyomon is here to put things right! Where's that bad old death-ray thingie?"

Watanabe looked up from where he'd been conversing with Henry and two aids. One of the young girls was so startled she dropped her notepad.

Sakyuamon followed me more sedately but put in, "What he said."

"Finally!" Terriermon huffed. "Where the hell have you been? We've been waiting for--" he stopped talking when he got a good look at our faces. "Oh for crying out loud! We've been here all this time and you two have been off somewhere--"

Henry grabbed his partner and clamped a hand over his mouth.

I waved a hand, airily dismissing the whole matter. "Well, we're here now, so how about you give us a look at the weapon?"

"The weapon is not here," the Minister told me coldly. "It has been taken by military personnel to a laboratory-- somewhere else."

That dampened my enthusiasm a bit. "You mean they didn't tell you where they took it? How am I supposed to check it out then?"

"It seems that Minister Ito trusts you even less than I do. He feels that his scientists can adequately determine the weapon's capabilities without your help," Watanabe said, and then continued with a bit of a resentful tone, "Or _mine_, for that matter."

"I thought the main idea was to figure out some sort of defense against it. How are we going to do that without digimon involvement?"

Watanbe glared at me and then said, as if to someone else, "That _would_ be the point of view of a digimon, of course."

I was really starting to get pissed with Watanabe. I had just had the most wonderful afternoon of my life and here this sour old bureaucrat was doing his best to ruin my afterglow by being unpleasant and cryptic.

"Well," I said in a quiet tone of voice that would have rung alarm bells for anyone who really knew me, "perhaps you would like to tell me how the situation looks from the _human_ point of view?" I was still trying to be polite. I had said "human" instead of "meat-bag".

"It is unfortunate from _any_ point of view," he said, tight-lipped. His aids hugged their notepads to their chests and edged away from the minister. "The answer to lawlessness is not _more_ lawlessness!"

The aids cast their eyes downward as if the most interesting thing in the world had just dropped at their feet. What the Minister had just said had made no sense to me but evidently his employees had heard it before and it signaled the start of a familiar tirade.

"Modern civilization cannot exist without enforceable laws! You digimon cannot be controlled by ordinary means and so we must rely on the capriciousness of a few _vigilantes_ to keep order! It is not an acceptable situation!"

"Well, it may not be a perfect--" I began. But Watanabe had just gotten started.

"And now this weapon! Developed by a secretive group for who knows what end. It is just more vigilantism! If it were in the hands of the proper authorities it would be a tool for order!"

The rest of us were exchanging "uh-oh" looks by that time but I was starting to get a particularly bad feeling about Watanabe's outburst.

"Then you could just shoot 'bad' digimon instead of relying on us 'vigilantes' to--"

"YES!" he yelled. "There would be order instead of this chaos! Innocent people would not die because of monsters rampaging in our streets! If we can suppress the group who created it, we can use this weapon for the good of society!""

It was a measure of how upset he was that he used the word "monsters". There were strict guidelines, issued by his own ministry against using such "offensive terms" when dealing with digimon. This had gone past official territory and well into a personal rant. He knew as well as anyone that there had been more people killed while playing sports in the last year than had been killed by digimon in the last _decade_. It was part of his own public relations program.

"So, tell me something-- am _I_ a bad digimon?" I asked almost off-handedly.

"Your own actions condemn you," he said, shaking a finger at me. You have always behaved badly! You shamed my family and have done nothing but--"

_Shamed his family? What the hell is he talking about?_ I wondered. _He's not even married._

One of the aids' notepads chimed and she looked down at it and gasped. The Minister turned toward her and she handed it over to him. He frowned at it for a split second and then his face went beet red-- neatly matching the color of his aura.

He looked up at me again, not with anger but with true murderous hatred. And the thing that hit me like a bomb was that there was no hint of frustration there-- only firm resolve. He threw the notepad to the floor, cracking its plastic casing with a loud snap, and turned to the lectern beside him, raising his hand.

I let my senses expand, desperately checking the surrounding parts of the building. One room adjoining the lecture hall was a service area that contained a lot of machinery, switching stations, piping, air conditioning ducts, and one thing I couldn't I identify. It was tube-shaped device about two meters long and it was pointed right at the center of the auditorium.

Watanabe's finger stabbed downward.


	13. Battle Lines

Chapter 13  
Battle Lines

The air hissed around me as I lunged forward. I had to cover several meters while Watanabe's finger had only centimeters to travel. Thank Tesla for a Mega's speed. If I had been in my Rookie body I never would have made it in time.

I couldn't soften my blow at the speed I had to move. His fingertip was only millimeters above the surface of the lectern when my slap powdered his bones and ruptured his flesh. The lower half of his forearm and hand flopped loosely, like a rubber glove full of soup. His face went paper-white, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he dropped like a stone.

I continued on, right through the wall of the auditorium and into the service area behind it. Shattered fragments of wallboard sprayed over the tube of the DK weapon as I shoved its muzzle aside and scooped up the big power cable attached to it. I ripped the cable apart and fat sparks showered until the circuit breaker blew, plunging the room into darkness.

Watanabe's aids were screaming and clutching at each other. Henry was shouting something incoherent. I dragged the weapon through the hole in the wall as the emergency lights came on.

"Looks like Watanabe-san had a little surprise prepared for us," I said, gesturing at the metal tube.

Henry gaped at the thing. "That's impossible! I saw the Army helicopter take it away!"

"Somehow, I don't think this is the same one."

I glanced at Watanabe. He was unconscious and seemed on the edge of going into shock. I bent down and pretended to examine him closely, using my body to hide the fact that I was swiping his cell phone and pocket computer. I looked up and could see security men approaching down the corridor. Terriermon nudged me with the edge of the notepad he had recovered from the floor and I took it from him and looked at its screen.

Whoever had taken the video must have had one hell of a telephoto lens. It was a shot of Sakuyamon and I on the mountaintop just before our bodies had gone incandescent with passion. I was beginning to regret that I hadn't slapped Watanabe's head instead of his hand.

The security guys burst in with guns drawn.

"Oh, _please_," I said and let a bit of my Sovereign aspect show through my Mega form. Blue ripples of energy surrounded me and the guards flinched back, eyes wide.

"The Minister needs medical attention. Take him to the roof so an evac 'copter can get him to a hospital."

One of the guards touched his earpiece and spoke quickly. I turned to the aids and waved the notepad at them. "If all copies of this aren't destroyed-- if I ever see this footage again-- I will turn this building into a heap of molten slag. I know you two are just flunkies but spread the word. I want Watanabe's deputy to personally assure me that it's been done, understand?"

One girl simply burst into tears. The other desperately assured me that my wishes would be complied with. I handed her the cracked notepad and turned to Henry.

"If the Minister is behind this-- no, that's just not possible, but-- damnit, I just can't figure it out We need to get the others together and try and untangle this mess."

Henry's face was looking grimmer than I had ever seen it before. "Why would he do this? I thought we were allies."

"Me too," I sighed and turned to Sakuyamon. "Can you go with Henry and Terriermon to the roof where they'll have room to biomerge?" I tossed a glance at the security guys, one of whom still had his gun in his hand. "For some reason I don't trust the MDR people to play nice anymore."

She hadn't said a word through the whole event. Hadn't hardly moved. "Lover?" I asked her. "Are you all right?"

Two men with a light folding stretcher rushed into the room and bent to lift the Minister onto it. Sakuyamon watched them silently for a moment before replying to me.

"I don't know," she said simply and motioned Henry to follow her out of the room.

With the DK weapon tucked under one arm, I made a brief stop in Watanabe's office to collect his big laptop and then headed up. I found Sakuyamon and Mega Gargomon hovering near the roof watching the approach of a medevac helicopter. I pointed out the military aircraft approaching from the South.

"Looks like word of our little tiff has gotten out. I don't feel like sticking around to explain myself right now, do you?"

"I think _somebody_ should," said Mega Gargomon.

I focused on the approaching gunships for a second. "Well, they're not bringing a DK with them, so you should be safe enough. "Do you remember the spot where we all had a picnic three years ago? The big food fight we got into?" He nodded. "I'll meet you there in two hours or so. Contact the others and let them know what's happened here. Ask them to show up there if they can."

He nodded again and Sakuyamon and I phased out.

-o--()--o-

The digignomes circled around me slowly where I sat on the beach with Sakuyamon, letting me pluck one of them out of the air whenever I needed to. The first few I fused with Watanabe's devices, giving me an easy way to get around all their security features and providing me with some semi-sentient help in searching them for the information I sought.

What I found was truly disturbing.

More than a decade ago I had failed in my first duty as a digimon when my creator was killed during a fight. I had been so grief-stricken by the event that I couldn't think about anything but his death and my failure for months thereafter. I never considered what his host family had gone through. An American exchange student under their care had been brutally killed and the dishonor and shame must have been overwhelming. The father of that family had been Minister Watanabe's brother.

The Minister had known all about it. He'd known who I was from the very first days when the HYPNOS project had become operational. His dislike of me had never been real-- it was always a disguise for his hatred. He blamed me for the disgrace his brother had suffered.

But that wasn't the worst of it. I could see then how he could kill me without any regrets but Sakuyamon had been in the line of fire as well. How could he endanger his Guardian Goddess, the one digimon he seemed to truly admire?

The answer was appalling. He didn't just revere Sakuyamon, he obsessively _desired_ her. There were thousands of images of her on his computers. Many were real photos and video clips but most were artwork-- both 3D and traditional media-- and almost all of them were pornographic. Crudely and _repulsively_ pornographic. No wonder he had been willing to kill us both. The video on the notepad had shown him the creature he desired more than anything eagerly giving herself to the creature he hated above all else.

There were still many more things I needed to search his machines for but when I saw those images-- more importantly, when _Sakuyamon_ saw those images-- I closed the screen and took her in my arms. She sobbed against my chest for a long time while I stoked her hair and made comforting sounds to her. The digignomes circled closer trilling sadly. Even their simple little minds could sympathize with Sakuyamon's distress.

Then she stiffened in my arms and her aura began to ripple and flare, alternating colors and intensity in a way impossible for any single being. Sakuyamon was at war with herself. Her internal fight became so intense that she jerked once violently and separated into tamer and digimon.

"--doesn't give you the right to harm him," Renamon was saying. "You _know_ this sort of filth exists. Both you and I have to accept that there are many people who create those sorts of pictures of us--"

"But it wasn't just some creepy fan-boy I don't even know!" Rika shouted. "It was _Watanabe!_ He's been in my house! He's had dinner with my _family! _All I can think of right now is every time he's touched me-- and it makes my flesh crawl!"

"I'll kill him for you," I offered in a gentle tone of voice. "I'll stick a digital net into him and keep healing him so that he will last a very, very long time. I'll record it so you can watch it again and again."

That shocked both of them out of their argument-- as I had expected. Renamon actually flickered out of phase for an instant, no doubt checking out my aura to see if I was serious. There was a relieved look on her face when she reappeared.

Rika froze, staring at me for a long moment. Then she gave me a wan little smile that made all the tightness in my chest vanish. "You say the sweetest things, fuzzy-pants. Most girls just get flowers."

That girl was truly amazing. She pushed aside her disgust and sense of betrayal and held out her hand. "Give me the pocket comp. We're looking for any ties to the weapon makers, right?"

I nodded and handed her the little device. "They may not be obvious .Look for large money transfers or unusual shipments. Once you find something suspicious, the diginet I stuck in there will help you fish out stuff that connects to it."

"Good," she said. "Let's see if I can't just 'connect' Watanabe-_san_ into prison."

-o--()--o-

By the time Mega Gargomon arrived we had pretty much gotten all the info we could from the computers and I was scanning the weapon itself.

Mega Gargomon stooped and opened his fist just above the beach and Henry's father stepped out of it looking a bit disheveled. "Henry thought I might be of some help," he said. "Is that the DK weapon?"

"Yes. Pretty simple-looking isn't it?" I said. "Here's what it looks like inside." I guided the energy that had been a digignome from inside the weapon into the big laptop. A transparent representation of the weapon appeared on the screen.

Mr. Wong studied it for a few minutes and then said, "It looks nearly as simple on the inside. Just a cluster of big coils connected to some oddly shaped waveguides. There's a pretty big circuit board behind the coils-- lots of chips-- and that mesh of wire around it must be a Faraday cage of some sort-- otherwise the EM field from the coils would fry the processors when they powered up."

"I have no frikkin' idea what you just said." I told him.

"Well, simply put, I think the code controlling the coils is the key to understanding this thing. Can you fire it and capture what happens inside the processors?"

"Yes, but--" I pointed to the severed power cord.

"Ah yes," Mr. Wong said. "Will Takato and Jeri be coming? I think Elecmon might be able to provide us with the power we need."

"He said they'd come when I called him earlier." Henry said. "They should be here any time now."

"Good," Mr. Wong nodded. "Have you learned anything else about who's behind this? I can't believe that Minister Watanabe would have the resources or power to--"

"You got that right!" I snorted. "It looks like he was just a tool for a bunch of much nastier people. Here." I handed him the pocket comp which was displaying the homepage of the Pure Earth Society.

He grimaced with distaste. "I've heard of them. An American group isn't it?"

"Based there," Rika said, "but they've got supporters world-wide. They want all digimon off the Earth-- banished or killed, it doesn't make any difference to them. And they control hundreds of millions in assets. More than enough to set up secret factories all over the world. There are financial records on that computer that tie Watanabe to them. It looks like they were paying him or he was blackmailing them or something. It's not really clear."

"Have you told the authorities?"

"What authorities?" I asked with a bit of anger in my voice. "The ones that tried to kill us at the MDR?"

"But that was just Watanabe--" Mr. Wong began.

"He didn't drag that weapon in there and hook it up himself," I snapped. "Half his staff had to know about it. Or maybe the army? The ones that whisked away the one DK weapon we had and made sure no digimon could get near it? No, I think we need to handle this ourselves."

"Handle it?" he asked doubtfully.

I doubt I would have told him what I was up to even if Galantmon and Sekhmon hadn't shown up at that moment. But it was an awful convenient interruption, anyway.

When Takato and Jeri had separated from their partners, I explained to Elecmon what we wanted him to do. We all backed well away as Elecmon took hold of the severed end of the weapon's power cable.

We were so close that _everyone's_ skin crawled when the weapon fired. Only Mr. Wong couldn't feel it because he lacked a diginet. While he crouched down with the laptop to see the results of the analysis, I strolled over to the big boulder we'd used as a target and took a look at it. It had that weird _soft_ feel to it and looked paler than normal when viewed out of phase. Evidently, the beam had some affect on normal matter as well.

"Can we try it again?" Mr. Wong called over to me.

We fired the weapon several more times and let Henry's dad puzzle over the streams of numbers and symbols that ran across the laptop's screen. "It's a very specific sequence and timed to the microsecond," he told us. "I think we might--"

"Holy crap! Look at the rock!" Terriermon shouted.

I turned just in time to see it disappear. I thought at first it had crumbled to dust but there was no sign of any debris. It had just seemed to shrink in on itself until it wasn't there any more. I cautiously approached the spot where it had been. There was a weird blue seam in the air-- something like a scar. I looked down at the sand, expecting to find a hole or something but what I saw was so bizarre it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. I had walked around the boulder, examining it from all sides and there, in the sand, were my pawprints to prove it. Only they were curving around in a tiny circle not around something that had been the size of a small car.

I scratched the back of my head in puzzlement. "What in Tesla's name is going on here?"

Mr. Science Guy (Wong) was the one who came up with a test to figure out what had happened. He drew out a grid in the sand and then had Elecmon fire the weapon at it several more times until a large section of the beach sucked in on itself and vanished.

He kept staring at the distorted grid that remained and after the third time he'd said, "Oh my god!" I couldn't keep quiet.

"Oh my god, _what?"_ I shouted.

"I-- I'm not sure but I think--" He turned and gave me a look of horror. "I think this weapon can destroy space itself."

"Oh--" I said. "That's bad, right?"


	14. On the Eve of the War

Chapter 14  
On the Eve of the War

I made a small fire as night fell. Not that we needed it for warmth-- the late summer night was balmy-- but mostly for comfort. Henry and his dad were in full science-geek mode, debating the significance of the DK weapon's effect using words that sounded like they'd just made them up. Takato was trying to reign them in, so he could understand the practical part of what they were saying, but he wasn't having much success.

Rika and Jeri had taken a walk together down the beach and around the headland. I guessed that Rika wanted to do some private chatting with a sympathetic friend.

I arraigned a little game for Elecmon, Terriermon, and Guilmon. It was sort of like a cross between soccer and pachinko-- using a wad of digignomes as a ball. Takato protested when he saw what I was doing.

"I know you use those little guys like they were just tools," he grumbled at me, "but you don't have to be pointlessly mean to them."

"Mean? This is fun for them, too!" I turned to the roughly spherical mass of squirming digignomes in my hand, "Right, guys?" They all trilled happily at once and waved their feelers around, making the "ball" suddenly look more like a sea urchin.

"I guess-- " Takato said uncertainly.

"Service!" I yelled and swatted the digignome ball in a high arc down the beach. The gang raced off after it all yelling at once. Takato went back to the geek-fest and I settled down with Renamon next to the fire. We bent our heads together and talked in low whispers. We could have spoken mind-to-mind but I enjoyed hearing her voice.

We watched as Guilmon made a dive for the ball. All the digignomes broke apart and scattered, then reformed behind him. He sat up, spitting sand and stuttering in surprise. Digignomes by themselves were dumb as rocks but the more of them you got together the smarter they seemed to be. The dozen or so that comprised the ball were bright enough to enjoy being ordered to cheat.

I chucked at Guilmon's face-plant and Renamon nosed my cheek. "What's wrong?" she asked. She knew me _way_ too well. That kind of entertainment would have had me laughing my head off-- usually.

"I'm not looking forward to seeing Watanabe again," I told her. "But I really shouldn't put it off any longer. We really need to know more about what the Pure Earth Society is planning than what we found on his machines. I don't understand half of what Henry and his dad are saying but it's pretty clear it adds up to some really dangerous stuff-- and not just for us digimon."

"Wait until Rika comes back, will you?"

"Sure."

We didn't say anything for a while and then I asked her, "That crap hit her pretty hard didn't it?"

"Yes. She took it very personally."

"More than the idea that Watanabe nearly fried us all?"

Renamon chuckled. "How many times have we been murderously attacked? That's something she's gotten used to. No, she's such a private person that that sort of thing is almost worse."

"Well, you're not exactly an extroverted party-girl! Why doesn't 'Renaporn' bother you?"

"I certainly _don't_ like images of that sort but more because I see them as disrespectful. The images themselves--" she paused, thinking of how to explain herself. "They aren't anything like _me_. They're just strange fantasies that happen to _look_ like me. And mostly not even very _much_ like me. After all, I don't have--" she cupped her hands and held them up in front of the chest as if she were cradling a pair of watermelons.

I considered for a moment. "But as Sakuyamon you've got a pretty impressive--"

She reached over and pushed my muzzle down with the tip of her own so that we were staring eye-to-eye and growled, "If you dare say 'rack', I'm going to bite your nose off!"

_"Figure!"_ I blurted. "I was going to say figure!"

"Oh?" she growled again playfully and pressed down harder against my nose, "And you think my current figure _isn't_ 'impressive'?"

"Is there any way I'm going to get out of this conversation alive?" I asked, giving her my best puppy-eyed look. And by 'best' I mean I actually made my eyes grow a couple of centimeters larger.

She let her nose slide off of mine and leaned closer to me, pressing her chest against mine and whispered in my ear, "Maybe-- if you're very, _very_ nice to me--"

I slid one hand around her waist and whispered back, "I'm more inclined to be _bad_." And so saying, I pushed a warm, fluttering pulse of data into her flank. She sighed happily and snuggled closer.

Takato cleared his throat in a very loud and pointed manner.

I looked up, just a bit irritated. "Yes?"

"Now that you've gotten a good look at the weapon, do you think there's any way you can detect ones like it from a distance?"

"Only if I can see it." I told him. "It's just an ordinary hunk of metal and circuitry until it's turned on."

"That's not good," Mr. Wong said. "Since it's a line-of-sight weapon, if you can see it, it can _kill_ you. I don't think there can be any defense against a DK beam except not getting hit by it."

"Is there any good news?"

"Yeah," Takato said with a strange look on his face. "My van gets incredible mileage. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh that," I shrugged. "I just fused a digignome with it. It doesn't need fuel any more and it'll drive itself if you tell it where you want to go."

"Really? I didn't know you could do things like that with digignomes."

"It's just as easy to put a digiweb into machinery as it is to put one into a biological being-- easier, in fact. I just thought a little extra advantage might be a help."

"Oh. Well-- thanks. That was thoughtful of you." He was looking pretty thoughtful himself.

"No sweat."

About that time Rika and Jeri came back up the beach still talking. I checked out their auras just to get a little advanced warning about their moods and was pleasantly surprised. Both were in a very mellow and loving frame of mind-- with just a tinge of sadness. Jeri walked off to Takato and threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. Elecmon left the ball game to see what was up with his tamer and also got a warm embrace.

Rika stood on the other side of the fire looking at Renamon and I. She was smiling but her eyes held just a hint of tears. We rose and went to her. She pulled us to her, one on each side, so that we surrounded her with our arms and bodies.

"I love you guys," she said, her voice choked with emotion, "You know that, right?"

We didn't say anything. We just lightly touched her digiweb with our energy, warming and stroking her body with a tender kiss of data. Rika surprised us both by channeling energy back into us where her arms circled our waists. The data flow grew and circulated between us in a way not meant to excite or give overt pleasure but to merely-- _connect_ us. There was no need for words.

I could have stayed like that all night but there were dangerous men at work who wouldn't be idle while we took time out for ourselves.

"I have to go," I said, finally.

Rika looked up. "Watanabe?"

"Yes. He's the only one who can give us more information right away."

She nodded. "I'll come with you. It'll be very--"

"No, Rika," I said gently. "I know how dangerous it will be and I'll be careful. But if I screw up, the rest of the gang will need you even more."

She could have said so many things-- argued or stubbornly refused to listen or gone all maudlin on me-- but she just nodded, kissed me, and stepped back. I loved her so much at that moment that it was like a spear of light through my chest.

I flew.

-o--()--o-

I circled closer to the hospital in a spiral pattern and spotted two of the DK weapons set up nearby. One was on a roof about a block away, set up on a tripod with no attempt at any sort of camouflage. The other was nearly a kilometer distant, hidden in a tangle of air-conditioning ducts about the same general size and shape as the weapon itself. It was a long way away from the Minister's hospital room but it had a clear line-of-sight to its window. The decoy and the sucker-punch.

I swung around one more time, scrutinizing the area. One last check to make as sure as possible that the ol' one-two wasn't the ol' one-two-_three_. I snuck up on the hidden DK and found two very un-bureaucratic types minding it. I stayed out-of-phase and stuck a hand into the weapon's innards, letting my clawtip turn into line with the physical world and rip gashes in the metal mesh surrounding the circuit board. One of the men stirred at the slight noise it made but quickly went back to observing the hospital through his binoculars.

On the rooftop, I was a little more obvious. I phased in behind the single, justifiably nervous operator and grabbed his sidearm and walkie-talkie before he even knew I was there. I crushed both items in my hands and flung them away. The man lunged for the handles of the DK but I knocked him (very gently) to the rooftop and put a fist completely through the metal tube, spraying twisted bits of precisely-machined components everywhere.

"You think I'm stupid or something?" I growled theatrically at him, gesturing wildly at the ruined weapon. "I saw this thing _kilometers_ away! Get lost before I chuck you over the edge!"

I could see the second communications unit hidden inside his clothing and knew he'd call his buddies as soon as I left. I had expected that sort of thing and it fit in perfectly with my plan. What I didn't expect was the little yellow object hidden inside one of the guy's teeth: a poison pill. This wasn't one of Watanabe's flunkies, this was one of the PES guys. I could probably have knocked the tooth clear out of his head with a finger-flick even before he saw me move-- but what then? What sort of information could I have gotten out of a fanatic who was prepared to die for his cause even if I was _willing_ to torture him? (Which I wasn't.)

I settled for grabbing him up by his collar and belt and throwing his down the roof-access stairs, infusing a digignome into his second walkie-talkie as I did so.

-o--()--o--

There was a guard inside the Minister's hospital room and one just outside. I thought I'd at least try to be polite so I phased in around a corner and walked up to the outside guard. He was whispering urgently into a lapel mike before I'd gotten two steps.

"I'd like to see the Minister." I told him, politely.

"I'm afraid you can't," the cop told me sternly.

I sighed. "You know who I am. You know you can't stop me. I'm trying to be civil about this. I won't hurt him."

"I have my orders."

"Alright, then." I phased out just enough to pass through him and the closed door while still being dimly visible and leaving a trail of sensation. Yeah, it was petty of me but people had been trying to kill me all day-- it made me cranky. I fused the lock so that he wouldn't follow me in.

I didn't even talk to the cop inside the room, just pushed him into a corner and held him there with a wingtip. He started to object and got his mouth stuffed full of feathers. Watanabe was awake and looking at me with fear.

"I won't hurt you, Minister. That's not why I'm here."

I felt a very brief, light tingle and the pulse of a strong electromagnetic field about three blocks away. I waited for a second, wondering if I'd even know it if there was a third DK I'd missed but nothing further happened.

"You might as _well_ kill me," he said. "When you reveal what I have done I will be a disgraced and ruined man. I have nothing to live for." He didn't seem surprised that I _hadn't_ gone "poof" in a bright cloud of particles. Maybe he wasn't as close to the PES people as I thought.

"Did you know about the hidden DK weapons out there?" I gestured to the window. "The ones pointed at this room?" His shocked expression was all the answer I needed.

"What I did, I did in anger," he said earnestly. "The weapon at the Ministry was only there as a precaution. I-- I--" He shook his head. Tears were streaking his cheeks. "I know you won't believe me but I am sorry for what I tried to do. I would never--"

I waved him to silence. "I _do _believe you-- because I know why you did it." I pulled out three devices from my jacket, his laptop, pocket comp, and cell phone. "The files have been erased. You know the ones I mean. Sakuyamon doesn't know about them." I figured I'd save him at least some embarrassment-- he looked so pathetic lying there with lank strands of hair slipping down over his sweaty forehead and half his right arm missing.

He said nothing but began to sob. Now it was my turn to be embarrassed. I released the cop and he coughed up a couple of feathers. "Excuse us for a bit, will you, officer? I'd like to speak privately with Watanabe-san." Without waiting for the inevitable reply I picked him up and phased him through the wall and into the hallway with his partner who was still tugging at the door to the room with half a dozen more policemen.

I stood with my back to him, looking out into the night. "I have a deal for you, Minister. I want information from you about the Pure Earth people you've been dealing with and in exchange I'm going to give you something you want. You may not _know_ you want it now, but I'll bet you won't turn me down when you hear what I'm offering."

"My arm? I know you could return it to me-- like you did with that young man-- but I don't deserve--"

"Oh no," I said slowly, "That's _nothing_. I can give you your dearest wish."


	15. No Mercy

Chapter 15  
No Mercy

We raided the port before dawn. Watanabe hadn't known much of anything about the Pure Earth Society's activities outside of the country but he gave me information in great detail about how they were getting their weapons into Japan. He was able to do so because he had made all the arrangements himself.

We had to act quickly because the PES guys who had seen me in Watanabe's hospital room would no doubt assume he'd spilled his guts to me. (Which he had.)

They were desperately loading DK weapons onto trucks when we arrived. They had several active DKs set up around the wharf area and were expecting us. Thanks to the digignome I'd planted in their guy's radio, we knew exactly when they spotted us and what their orders were.

Sakuyamon and I blasted all the active DKs we could detect and Mega Gargomon and Galantmon vaporized the trucks and shipping containers. Sekhmon had gone to the Ministry of Defense to give them advance warning of our attack. About five seconds in advance-- I didn't want the army getting in the way.

Local Megas were backing us up, keeping an eye out for any nasty surprises. Paladinmon took out a pair of guys with anti-tank missiles that were tracking Sakuyamon. He drew their attention from her and dove right at them, dodging one shot and smashing into them before they got off a second. Those missiles were serious state-of-the-art weapons and could have done him a lot of harm even if they hadn't killed him. I swore to myself I'd never mind him m'lording me again.

Urumon caught a truck full of weapons that had gotten away from the port area and ripped it and its contents to shreds. He could have done the same to the driver and guard-- and after having had his legs burnt off I wouldn't have blamed him a bit-- but he didn't. I didn't matter anyway. As soon as he cornered them they dropped like stones, foaming at the mouth and twitching.

The whole attack had taken less than ten minutes and the first police units were just arriving on the scene as we started mopping up. Both Sakuyamon and I captured a couple of men alive and (aside from a need for some dentistry) unharmed.

A police Armed Response Unit hover transport slammed to a landing at the end of the wharf and the team piled out trying to point their weapons in every direction at once. Sakuyamon landed nearby to explain the situation to them and two of them-- in full tactical gear-- gave her bows fit for an empress. I'm sure that _had_ to be against regulations.

We turned over our prisoners and they were cuffed and loaded into a police van as another fast little helicopter streaked into the area. A twitchy Mega nearly fried it before she recognized the military insignia on its side.

I hooked a thumb at the helicopter as it grounded beside the police ARU. "What do you want to bet that _isn't_ a big package of happy?" I asked Sakuyamon.

She looked around at the wreckage and bodies. "I'm grateful that no tamers or digimon were seriously harmed but this still isn't something to be happy about."

-o--()--o-

Ten minutes of battle followed by an eternity of recriminations. That's what it seemed like, anyway. Takato and Henry had known what would follow our assault and had been prepared to take the brunt of it on themselves. Those guys were _real_ heroes. They left with the humorless Major in his helicopter. I, on the other hand, tucked my tail under and ran off with Rika and Renamon. Justifications and explanations were things I never bothered with if I could avoid them. Besides, we had things to do.

Japanese officials admonished the United States government for allowing a 'terrorist' group to export weapons to Japan. American politicians denied that the DKs were actually weapons, claimed that they had been imported from a different country entirely, said that the PES was known to be a peaceful international charity organization, and warned Japan about letting "rouge digimon" attack American citizens. Watanabe backed us up fully, claiming that what we had done was the only sensible course of action and part of a sting operation he had organized to expose the PES. The Prime Minister praised him publicly and privately threatened to dismiss him for exceeding his authority, not knowing that Watanabe wouldn't be around much longer in any case.

While the politicians blew hot air at each other, we made plans. I figured that a world-wide intensive search for DK weapons was what we needed. We'd get every digimon on the planet involved if possible. We'd ferret them out and destroy them-- and hopefully bankrupt the PES in the process. Now that we knew the structure of the weapons I could get digignomes to seek them out and sabotage them as well.

But the PES had other ideas. Their first major attack came on the East Coast of the United States about twelve hours later.

-o--()--o-

There were fewer casualties than there might have been because the warning about PES had gone out and a lot of tamers and digimon had changed their habits or gone into hiding. But there were many of them who couldn't or wouldn't disrupt their lives enough to be unfindable. Most of those ones died.

Even with their hit-and-run tactics, the PES lost several helicopters. A Champion or even a fairly powerful Rookie could easily down an aircraft and if the attackers didn't get their target on the first shot they didn't usually get a second one. Even so, hundreds of digimon and their tamers died. We knew about the attacks within minutes but there was nothing we could do about something that was happening half the world away.

Except get angry. Really angry.

I got calls from Minister Ito, Takato, and even the Prime Minister himself as I flew, all begging me to return to Tokyo, or at least not do anything rash. I flew on with Sakuyamon and seven Megas in my wake.

Several fighter aircraft tried to intercept us as we crossed the California coastline and I waited until they actually fired on us to phase us all out. With our speed added to the Earth's rotation, the sun seemed to leap over the horizon. We reached Atlanta and began a search-- just what the PES figured we'd do, no doubt. We found nothing.

That's because, while we were chasing our tails in Georgia, the PES was attacking Los Angeles.

At least it was less of a massacre than in Georgia. Several clever tamers had hidden near their homes waiting for the bad guys to show up and blasted them from the sky when they did. The National Guard actually shot down a couple of the PES aircraft as they left the city heading East into the desert. It was still a disaster no matter how you looked at it. Over a hundred people dead-- tamers, digimon, and at least a half dozen innocent bystanders taken out by the flaming wreckage of attack helicopters. Not to mention the PES teams themselves.

And I thought I had been angry before.

Wherever they were going to attack next, it would be a long way from LA. That was all we could be sure of. I sent out more messages, ordering every digimon and Mega tamer to go into hiding. A lot of tamers of the lower level digimon accompanied their partners even though they, lacking a diginet, weren't vulnerable to the DK weapon.

Counting up the number of aircraft and weapons destroyed in Tokyo, Atlanta , and Los Angeles, the PES must have lost tens of millions of dollars in equipment. I hoped they wouldn't be able to afford those sorts of losses for very much longer but Jeri dashed my hopes.

"They have over 350 million dollars unaccounted for. Both the US and French governments are investigating them for tax fraud." She told me via SMU. "And that's just the money that we can be fairly certain about. They may have twice that amount hidden away."

"Crap." I thought furiously. "Maybe the way to kill this snake is to cut off its head. Can you get me the names and locations of all the big-wigs in this organization?"

Jeri gave me a _look_. I just stared back at her. Before I'd ruined Watanabe's arm, I hadn't harmed a human being in my life. (Well, okay, there was one pitiful little punch right after I'd been hatched, but that hardly counted.) Did she think I was just going to kill those guys out of hand?

"Well?"

"I checked. All their officers and everyone on the board of directors has disappeared. The last known sighting was their CFO boarding his private jet about four hours after the Tokyo raid."

"Crap, crap, and _flaming_ crap!" I swore. "They were ready for us. They've had this planned out in advance-- maybe _years_ in advance. We're really at a disadvantage here."

"There _is_ some good news," she said.

"Well, thank Tesla for that! What is it?"

"Well, it's more of a good news / bad news situation."

I put my head in my hand and sighed. "Of _course_ it is."

"Digignomes located a factory near Frankfurt about an hour ago. The local tamers disabled the self-destruct charges and took the place within minutes."

I brightened up considerably. "So where's bad in that?"

"There was a new sort of DK weapon there. It wasn't fully assembled but it was _big._"

"Where is it now?"

"Uh--" Jeri hesitated. "Maybe I should let you talk to Liesel."

There was a brief flicker and a transfer icon came up on my SMU screen. Liesel? It sounded a bit familiar but I couldn't immediately place the name. A second later the screen cleared and I thought, at first, I was looking at a digimon.

"Coyomon! How you doing?" Said the girl with the metallic copper hair, half a hundred piercings, and the black-and-white makeup. It was the eye makeup that made it click for me: Liesel had done her face up to resemble her Gazimon partner.

"Liesel! I hear you bagged us a DK factory. Good going!"

"Yah. Sorry I couldn't nab the big bang for you but we couldn't carry it and I figured you wouldn't want to let the _authorities_" (she fairly spat out the word) "get their sweaty hands on it."

"What happened?"

"Jeri didn't tell you? Ooh-- wait a sec!" She poked at her SMU snickering, "I got some wicked-cool vid here."

Her face was replaced by a view of a big, semi-spherical piece of machinery. It had some huge coils at its center and metallic tubes and rods stuck out in every direction. Connected to the thick cables leading into the thing was a black control box with the ominous label, "DETONATION SEQUENCER".

The camera pulled back to reveal Liesel on a catwalk above the factory floor shouldering a tank-killer missile of the sort that the PES had used in Tokyo.

"Bye-bye, bad thing!" she chirped happily and pulled the trigger.

Armor piercing rockets really aren't meant to be fired inside a building. The rest of the vid was a white flash and a hiss as Liesel's SMU's microphone was overloaded, followed by wildly shaking images and metallic crashing sounds.

Liesel's laughing face reappeared. "Gazi and me got a bit crispyfied." She held up the scorched hem of her black lace dress for me to see. "Deadly-cool, yah?"

"Yah." I agreed. I was impressed. "Say, Liesel--"

Sakuyamon put her hand over the camera and mic on my SMU. "Don't you dare offer that girl a diginet!" she whispered to me. "And don't do that thing with your eyes, it creeps me out!"

I sighed. She was right. Liesel was dangerous enough as she was without being able to biomerge with her partner.

"Good going, Liesel," I said when Sakuyamon had withdrawn her hand. "If you have any problems with the 'authorities' just let me know."

"Pft!" she spat. "They couldn't catch me and Gazi in forever! Besides," she lifted another tank-killer into view, "I still got a couple of these fun toys left!"

She signed off before I could say anything. _Damn,_ I thought, _Maybe I'd better send that girl to go play in the Digital Dimension when all this is over. At least there, destroyed landscape tends to grow back._

-o--()--o-

The Germans screamed bloody murder. You'd think that with a bunch of lawless terrorists running around, they'd appreciate a little digital help, but no. In fact, every country seemed to want to handle the situation without any "outside interference". Except they _weren't_ handling it.

Two more places, Paris and London, were attacked the next day. The airspace over those two giant cities was some of the most tightly controlled on the planet, so the PES didn't use aircraft. They mounted their weapons inside trucks and vans which were indistinguishable from ordinary vehicles until they opened fire. Some of the vans were destroyed by digimon and some were stopped by police and promptly blew themselves up but most lost themselves in traffic and escaped.

Even with all the warnings we had issued, there were still some casualties. But only a few dozen in each city seemed like a blessing compared to the carnage that had gone before.

Of course, to the PES madmen, it must have felt like a huge failure. I suppose that's why they picked the next day in New York to try out their DK bomb.


	16. Ground Zero

Chapter 16  
Ground Zero

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**I know this has gotten a bit grim-- but hang in there-- things **_**will**_** get better.**

**In the meantime go check out the updated pic of Rena and Coyo! Still in progress but some snazzy color has been added.**

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

It's a good thing digignomes are slow. I didn't think so when one arrived bearing the news about the DK factory in Germany about eight hours after Liesel had reduced it to a pile of rubble, but if they could travel significantly faster we all would have been in New York when the bomb went off.

We were still in the US when we got the news. It's a huge country and has immense stretches of empty land to hide out in while we waited for another attack. I figured since most of the attacks had been there, we'd be closer when the next one came. One of my first tamer's relatives had a place way out on Black Mesa on the Hopi Reservation, which made a pretty good base. There were half a dozen major digimon populations within an hour's flight of the place.

With nothing to do but wait, we were all on edge. Jeri sent me news summaries every couple of hours, which did nothing but depress me. Sure, there were lots of condemnations of the Pure Earth Society and its actions but there was also an appalling amount of support. I hadn't realized there were so many people who would love to see us all wiped out. With the twisted logic of bigots everywhere, they seemed to blame all the destruction on _us._ If we hadn't come to Earth in the first place, there wouldn't be any need for all this unpleasantness, they said. By trying to live among humans like we were real people or something, we were "asking for it", they said. There had even been random attacks on digimon by people unconnected to PES.

I hadn't realized I was growling out loud until Sakuyamon plucked the Secure Mobile Unit out of my hands and tossed it to Urumon.

"Hey!" I protested.

She shrugged. "You can keep poisoning yourself with media vomit or you can take a walk with me-- your choice."

Not much of a choice. I stood up and we strolled out of the cabin and into the desert.

"I can't think of anything to do." I sighed as we walked. "We can't ask every digimon on the planet to hide out like scared rats indefinitely-- but unless we can eliminate all the DK weapons they'll be sitting ducks. Even if we do stop PES-- the weapons aren't that hard to build and those fuckers posted the plans on the internet! Whenever someone decides to go after digimon--"

"We could leave," she said.

"Leave? You mean to the Digital Dimension?" For some reason the idea appalled me.

"It would be better than unending guerilla warfare, wouldn't it?" she asked with infuriating reasonableness.

"Is there any guarantee that PES would be satisfied by that? They might resurrect the _Ragnorok_ or _D-Reaper_ programs and send them after us."

That stopped her in her tracks. "But why would they do such a thing? There would be no reason--"

"These guys don't operate on reason and logic," I told her bitterly, "If you'd ever look at the news, you'd know that what fuels them is superstitious fear and hate. Even if they managed to drive us all back to the DD, they wouldn't be satisfied. They'd always be afraid we were planning a counter-attack or something."

She turned away from me and I instantly regretted my harsh words. "I'm sorry lover, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just so frustrated--"

She turned back to me and reached out-- but at that moment a digignome glided down from the sky, trilling urgently. There had been a battle at a DK factory in New Jersey. The tamers and digimon who had attacked it hadn't been as fortunate as Liesel's group. None of the attackers had survived the fight. Almost all of the weapons had been destroyed except for a big one that had been already loaded on a truck which drove off as the attack began. A small flock of digignomes were tracking it.

We raced back to the cabin and gave the rest of the group the news. I told them that I didn't expect any of them to come along-- facing a bomb of unknown capabilities was far different than fighting mere DK beams. Not one of them stayed behind, of course.

I spoke silently to Sakuyamon as we rocketed Eastward, trying desperately to convince her that we shouldn't both risk ourselves_. If we were both lost it would be a crippling blow to our side._ I argued.

_Good point_, she told me. _I'll go on. You stay behind_.

Those damned evil females! _Damnit!_ I admitted. _I don't want you to risk your life!_

_I feel the same way about you. Do you want to flip a coin?_

"Ahhhrrr!" I growled out loud in frustration, startling the others.

We flew on together in silence.

-o--()--o-

We were about twenty miles from the city when the DK bomb went off. Even at that distance it felt like my bones were being turned inside out. We all lost control and, because we were flying low to avoid being spotted, crashed into a pear orchard beside the New Jersey Turnpike like a bunch of colorful meteorites.

"Anyone hurt?" Sakuyamon called out as we picked ourselves out of a mess of broken tree limbs and squashed fruit. A chorus of not too certain voices revealed that everyone was still more or less okay. The sick feeling in my stomach had nothing to do with the weapon's direct effect.

We were too late to stop it but we could at least see the damage for ourselves. It wasn't what we expected. Henry's father had kept on about the dangers of the DK weapon-- how it could possibly destroy matter and even the underlying fabric of space. Aside from our test on the island, we hadn't seen any evidence of that-- until New York.

Central Park was bullet-shaped. It had been a rectangle only a few minutes before. The bomb must have been near the North end of the park when it had gone off. That section of the city was a twisted mass of concrete, asphalt, steel-- and more unpleasant things. From the air it looked like someone had painted a picture of the city on some gelatinous substance that had been partially sucked down a drain.

No vehicles were moving on the streets of Upper Manhattan. The EMP from the weapon must have knocked out all unshielded electrical systems for blocks. There were police and news fliers circling the area and a couple of big fires where aircraft too close to the bomb had been knocked out of the sky.

I sent out a call for any local digimon. The nearest one to answer was on Long Island, nearly five miles away. I thought I'd feel horror or anger or-- _something_. But I was just numb.

"Coyomon!" Sakuyamon called to me. She was using her SMU to transmit images of the devastation to the rest of our crew back in Japan.

"Yeah-- what?"

"Look!" She was pointing down at the point where the bomb had gone off. That weird distortion of the city was _moving_. It _was_ just like it was being sucked down a drain. As I watched, a taxi and the section of street it was sitting on slowly oozed out of existence. I heard the tinny sound of Mr. Wong's voice coming from the speakers on Sakuyamon's SMU. Here's a clue: It's frikkin' _bad_ when someone who really understands the situation gets hysterical.

I took a closer look at the Cosmic Drain and could see the matter unknitting itself and vanishing along the ragged blue seam in reality. It was really disturbing-- and it seemed to be accelerating.

"Mute that, would you?" I said to Sakuyamon. Mr. Wong's screaming was getting on my nerves. "It's growing-- getting faster. We need to do something."

"What _can_ we do?" Urumon asked, flexing his massive, clawed hands uncertainly.

I was about to reply when a missile smacked me in the back of the head. It was a little air-to-air job launched from an approaching National Guard gunship. Stung like hell. Served me right for letting my attention get too focused on one thing.

Panthamon and Paladinmon blasted the other missiles out of the sky and Paladinmon grabbed the helicopter by its skids and held it still while Panthamon tore all of its weapons off of their mounts.

"We're on your side, guys," Panthamon yelled to them over the noise of their rotors, "so don't piss us off, _okay?"_ She signaled for Paladinmon to release the aircraft and the pilot retreated to a safe distance and hovered. He must have gotten on his radio because the other fighter aircraft that arrived afterwards just hovered or circled us.

"Uh-- M'Lord?" Paladinmon asked, approaching me.

"Yeah?"

"Perhaps-- " he continued uncertainly.

"Look, if you've got any ideas at all, I'd love to hear them!"

"It may be like a fire-- to put out a fire you smother it or starve it of fuel."

"Stuff more buildings into it and hope they clog the drain?" I asked.

"No--" he replied, obviously working it out as he talked, "--on an atomic level, there's not much difference between concrete and air. I think we need to disrupt the process. Maybe--"

"Disruptive? I can be disruptive!" I spun and flung a Destroying Blade attack at one end of the writhing blue seam. The attack energy flashed and spattered in a way I'd never seen before and the slow creep of matter into nothingness paused for a moment before resuming.

"I think we can stop it!" I called to the others. "Blast the hell out of it! Give it your best attacks all at once!" The Megas gathered and faced the Cosmic Drain.

"On three!" I yelled. "One-- two--"

I'd never seen that much firepower poured into one spot before. The backsplash partially melted the surrounding buildings and fires erupted from inside them. It was a good thing they were already ruined. We kept it up for as long as we could. I couldn't see a thing past the glare of our combined attacks and didn't know if it was working or not until we all had to stop from sheer exhaustion.

It had taken the full strength of eight Megas and a Sovereign but we'd done it. The Cosmic Drain was all clogged up.

"ATTENTION, DIGIMON" came the blare of a powerful loudspeaker from somewhere below us. "PLEASE STOP YOUR ATTACK!"

"What the hell?" I swore to myself and then yelled back at the speaker, "We're _not_ attacking! We just saved your asses from a-- nasty-- cosmic-- uh-- _thing!"_

"WE SURRENDER! PLEASE LEAVE US IN PEACE!"

"Oh for--" I growled. "YOU MORONS! WE--"

Sakuyamon stopped me with a hand on my chest. "I'll go explain things to them. It would probably put them at ease if you and the others left."

She was right-- as usual. "Alright, lover. I'll see you back in Arizona." I wanted to kiss her in the worst way but was conscious of the thousands of cameras that were, no doubt, pointed our way.

-o--()--o-

They called the destroyed Manhattan neighborhood "The Scar". I swear there must be one guy whose job it is to make up names for the media to use. They never seem to _start_ anywhere-- every talking-head on the newsfeeds just seems to start using the terms all at once time. Maybe they get memos.

The field near Pueblo, Colorado they called "Ground Zero", though that name had been used several times before. (I never said Mr. Name-it Guy had to be creative.)

The Rocky Mountains were rising over the curve of the Earth when I felt the first pulse of a digital field forming. That a digimon was crossing over to Earth under the exact spot we were flying over was too much of a coincidence for me. I swooped down to investigate.

The mist cleared. It was Kayamon.

"Heya, sweetie," I greeted her, a bit confused. "What brings you here? And how'd you _find_ me?"

"My Sovereign has sent me as herald," she said formally and added more casually, "It wasn't hard-- you leave a pretty big energy wake when you're not cloaking yourself."

_Crap!_ I thought. I'd been so upset that I hadn't thought to resume my usual stealth mode. "Um-- 'herald'?" I asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"To announce her coming," Kayamon explained. "It's a tradition that, when a Sovereign enters another Sovereign's territory, they send someone to--"

"Whoa, whoa! Yasuramon's coming _here?_ When?"

"Well-- _now_."

And she was. I could feel it. To transfer a digimon as powerful as a Sovereign took enormous energy. Another digital field began forming and this time is was huge. My Megas muttered to each other. They'd never seen another Sovereign-- hell, they'd never actually seen _any_. I hadn't assumed my true shape in years. All they knew of me was my four lower digivolution states.

It was like the sun rising. Yasuramon's gleaming metallic fur shone brightly as she appeared. A few sweeps of her wings dispelled the lingering mist of the digital field and she was revealed in all her majestic glory. My followers gaped.

"Hey there, beautiful!" I called up to her. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"The situation here has gotten out of hand," the glorious music of her voice proclaimed. "I have come to put an end to this conflict."

Now _I _was the one gaping at her. "Uh-- if you have any _suggestions_, I'd be more than willing to--"

"The Jade Mountain is destroyed," she snarled at me. "It was in conjunction with that human city when the weapon was used. All the digimon there-- my subjects-- died instantly. This is no longer a matter that concerns only _your_ realm."

"Oh shit," I said softly, "I'm so sorry-- but I don't think the Pure Earth Society will dare use a DK bomb again. It nearly started a chain reaction--"

"You think these humans will use good judgement and restraint? Your hope is that they will go back to killing digimon by the mere dozens, like _civilized_ beings?"

If I couldn't have told she was angry by the tone of her voice, the twenty-meter golden flames rippling upward from her head and mane would have clued me in.

"If you have a way to end this war, I'm all ears."

The flames subsided a bit and she grinned. I hate it when she does that. "I isn't my idea, actually. Your friend Yamaki told me about it."

Now I was _definitely_ uneasy.

"He says it kept the humans from killing themselves off during the Cold War. It's called MAD."

"As in crazy?" I asked, doubtfully.

"As in Mutually Assured Destruction." She smiled slowly, showing all of her fearsome teeth. "All we need is a little demonstration."

"No way in hell, Yasuramon!" I yelled at her. "I can guess what you mean by a 'demonstration' and I'm not going to let you kill innocent people!"

"Then pick out the _guilty_ ones for me!" she sneered. "How many innocents have died already? How many more will die if this senseless war continues? Better to end it with one decisive strike. If the humans know that any attack on digimon means loosing one of their cities, their only choice will be between surrender and _extinction_."

"Fuck your brutal logic!" I spat at her, "I'm not going to let you--"

More digital fields began to form over the countryside. Big ones. _Dozens_ of them. The first of Yasuramon's Devas began to appear.

"Just a small city will suffice." The merciless Sovereign turned her head and gazed at the outskirts of Pueblo.


	17. Turning the Tide

Chapter 17  
Turning the Tide

Whatever else she might have been, Yasuramon wasn't stupid. She didn't believe in fair fights, she believed in _crushing_ her enemies. I had seven very powerful Megas at my back but they were young and inexperienced. Yasuramon's Devas were only Ultimates but they were battle-hardened Nightmare Soldiers-- and they outnumbered us at least five to one.

_I can't ask you to face them,_ I spoke silently to my Megas, _Go now. Wait for Sakuyamon in the desert. _They stood their ground-- disobeying my direct order. I was so proud of them.

Except for Paladinmon. He gave me one of his deep bows and leaped into the air. Obedience or fear? I didn't know-- but he was the one who I thought would have been the last to flee a fight. Just shows you what sort of a judge of character I was.

Panthamon watched him go and started to shout something after him but I stopped her with a thought. _No, he is just obeying my order. Say nothing._

Yasuramon watched it all with a look of mild amusement on her face. "Surely you don't intend to fight me? You _know_ you can't possibly win."

"Let me put it this way--" I said, smiling right back at her. _Stand back, guys,_ I thought to my Megas, _I'm about to go all Digital Sovereign on her ass._

I _unfolded._

It felt like stretching after sitting in a cramped position for a long time. I was a Sacred Beast, just like Yasuramon-- but bigger, and if I may be allowed a bit of vanity, better-looking. The other digimon scrambled to get out of the way as I grew in size, swelling like a thunderhead over mountains played in fast forward.

My creator, Danny Kanetewa, had drawn on the legends of the American Southwest to shape my character. I was a trickster god and though that "trickster" part of my job description had often given me a good deal of trouble (wily old Coyote tricked _himself_ as often as he did others) the "god" part came in pretty handy at times.

My huge coyote body towered over Yasuramon, the wind from my outstretching wings buffeted her and made her narrow her eyes against the swirling air. I was the color of clouds near sunset and patterns of light and shadow chased each other though my fur and feathers. I summoned my strength and electricity danced along my body, flashing like sheet lightning.

"THIS IS _MY_ REALM!" I spoke in a chord of thunder and the watchers cringed at the assault of my voice. "I AM EARTH'S SOVEREIGN AND I SAY YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!"

"THEN I WILL _KILL_ YOU AND MAKE IT _MY_ REALM." Yasuramon roared back at me.

So much for the formalities.

But there was one last, desperate plea for peace, from one of the most fearsome warriors I knew. "Please! Don't do this! _Please_ don't fight!" Kayamon cried in despair.

Her sweet, musical voice went through me like a knife. I didn't look down at my daughter but spoke as quietly as I could manage to Yasuramon. "If you make her choose between us, you are not fit to be her Sovereign."

We locked gazes for a long moment and then Yasuramon's long tail swept around and lightly touched my daughter, sending her sprawling. She tumbled over and over through the wheat field and when she came to rest she was a tiny ball of reddish-gold fluff with two huge emerald eyes. "What? What?" she squeaked in dismay at finding herself in a Child body. I sent a silent message to Panthamon, who scooped up my daughter and shoved her into a culvert under the dirt road that ran along the border of the field. She hammered the ends of the corrugated metal tube shut, trapping Kiramon inside-- as safe as was possible under the circumstances. I nodded my thanks to Yasuramon.

We fought.

The wheat field ignited at the first exchange of energies. Power lines parted and sparked briefly before the metal wires melted away. Trees shattered and burned and swaths of earth the size of schoolbusses were hurled into the sky.

I tried every trick I knew, opening dimensional portals right in front of charging Devas, casting illusions to confuse the enemy, trying to pull their energy levels out of them by brute force-- all while fending off Yasuramon's staggering attacks.

There was a brief lull as both sides pulled back to get a bit of a breather and to assess their losses. A burning feather the size of a surfboard fluttered down past my head. I didn't know if it was mine or Yasuramon's.

It took only a second to see that we were being badly beaten. "Go now," I blustered at Yasuramon. "Order your Devas away and I'll let you live."

She laughed-- her powerful voice infused with venom and scorn. "You're _losing_, you fool! Will you throw away your realm, your _life_, for a few contemptible humans you don't even know?" She swept a singed wingtip out to indicate the distant city.

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Panthamon had fallen and separated into Yoko and Kudomon. Yoko knelt, crying and cradling the body of her unmoving partner. A shadow fell across her and she looked up to see one of the nastier Devas swooping down at her. She covered her partner's body with her own and grabbed up the only weapon she could reach, a lump of scorched earth.

As I watched the young girl hurl the pitiful dirt clod at the descending viper, a cold determination filled me. I pulled energy from within and formed it into a flash of blades that tore the viper into shreds of data.

"Just you and I, Yasuramon," I said, trying one last trick to turn the odds in our favor. "Send your Devas away and I'll tell my Megas to back off-- let's see who's best-- you or me."

"I already know," she sneered and turned to her Devas. "Kill him," she commanded them.

The countryside shattered. We fought in a maelstrom of burning dust and debris. I quickly tired, expending my energy not only in attack and defense, but in "recharging" my Megas as well. One by one, Yasuramon's Devas fell. But while defending myself from them, I was unable to attack her. My strength was fading while hers remained undiminished.

Fighter jets screamed overhead, firing missiles into the fight indiscriminately. Yasuramon waved her tail and the aircraft vanished, leaving some very surprised pilots hurtling through the air by themselves. At least she'd neglected to take away their parachutes.

My weakened Fire Rain attack on the last remaining Deva spattered harmlessly off of his black shield. He grinned and raised his hand, a dark, fuming mass of energy forming there. I don't think he even had time to be surprised when my jaws snapped shut on him. Nice, sparkly energy is cool looking-- but sometimes the direct approach is best. My teeth still worked just fine.

The infusion of energy from his data gave me enough strength to face Yasuramon without dragging my tail but I knew it was just prolonging the inevitable.

"You will die," she told me coldly, "and these barbaric humans will be brought to heel. When I rule this world, there will be order and peace."

I laughed out loud with maybe just a _tiny_ bit of hysteria. "Oh for Tesla's sake! You don't know them at _all._ They'll 'heel' about as well as a rabid wolverine. You'll be fighting them until there aren't any left. The only peace you'll get is the peace of the _grave!" _I laughed again, so hard that my shattered left wing sent bolts of pain through me. "Shit, Yasuramon, they might even _beat_ you!"

She stared at me coldly and I could feel the energy building inside of her. Her golden wings spread wide and intense, blistering heat began to radiate off of them as her Fire Wing attack formed.

"Goodbye," she said and there was a blinding eruption of flame.

_Blue_ flame. Yasuramon slammed to the ground and her attack energy scattered.

"I am _so_ going to kick your mangy ass!" Sakuyamon screamed at the stunned Sovereign as she hurtled down out of the sky. She slapped the giant fox's muzzle with her staff and the crack was as loud as thunder.

Sakuyamon spun and landed an ax kick that drove Yasuramon's head into the smoldering stubble of the field. Before the battered Sovereign could get to her feet, Sakuyamon had straddled her neck, twisted one had in her metallic ruff and yanked her head up and back.

My lover's Spirit Foxes leaped from her staff and slammed, one after the other, into Yasuramon's exposed throat as she writhed, desperately struggling to break Sakuyamon's grip.

I dragged myself forward and just as Yasuramon managed to shake off her tormentor, I clamped my jaws down on her neck and pulsed every bit of Fire Bite energy I could muster into my teeth. Flames burst from my mouth and the acid tang of burned fur and flesh filled the air. Yasuramon screamed and her tail swept down on me. I tried to deflect it with my good wing, but it sheared straight through the wing and smashed into my side, breaking ribs and cutting through muscle.

I struggled not to howl in pain-- I needed to keep hold of her or-- but I couldn't seem to focus my energy-- or my thoughts. I felt my fangs slipping but I didn't have enough strength to keep my jaws closed. I fell heavily, despair welling up in me. There was another massive burst of energy as I struggled to rise but I couldn't sense what had happened. My legs didn't seem to be working right.

Suddenly I felt better-- or at least not so completely awful. There was a warm glow spreading across my mangled side and my vision began to clear. I turned my head around and saw Sakuyamon kneeling at my side, her glowing hands stroking my damaged chest. I looked for Yasuramon and saw a ragged mound of tattered metallic fur that was weakly trying to move.

"Wow," I croaked. "You _did_ kick her--" I broke off for a coughing fit. "I'm impressed," I finished after I'd hacked up a couple of bushels of charred fur.

"It helped that you nearly burned her head off," Sakuyamon said softly.

Yasuramon moaned weakly. I took that for disagreement. I rolled onto my belly and watched Sakuyamon walk over to her.

The fallen Sovereign glared up at her and snarled weakly, "You're a digimon-- why do you fight for the humans who would gladly kill you?"

"Digimon?" Sakuyamon asked in a puzzled tone of voice. "I'm not a digimon."

Yasuramon actually found the strength to laugh. "No? Then what are you, a human? Have I been beaten by a pitiful, weak human?"

Sakuyamon shook her head and separated into Rika and Renamon.

"I am a human," said Rika.

"I am a digimon," said Renamon.

They both turned to each other and became Sakuyamon once again, so connected to each other that there was no longer any need for a digivice.

"But _I_," said Sakuyamon, "am the _future_."

I struggled to my feet, staggering with the imbalance caused by my missing wing, and limped over to them.

"Don't drag it out," she said, looking up at me. "You've won-- finish it."

I shrank down to my Mega form. The little bit of strength left in my Sovereign body was enough to put me in good shape at a lower level. I slid my spear out of its sheath on my back and leveled it at the fallen Sovereign. Sakuyamon came to my side and put a hand on my shoulder.

"For the kindness you showed to my daughter, I will spare you," I said. "I will send you back to the Digital Dimension if you swear that you will never interfere with my realm again."

She smiled-- or grimaced in pain, I wasn't sure which. "As long as it remains your realm-- I will not interfere."

"As long as-- ?" I squinted suspiciously at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"They'll kill you, eventually," she said. "Both of you. If there's anything left of the Digital and Real Worlds by then, I will return and set things to right." She smirked at me then, a sarcastic expression I clearly recognized. "Don't worry, I will exact an exquisite vengeance on your killers."

"Thanks a whole bunch," I muttered, readying a portal spell.

"Might I ask one other small favor? If you would be so kind as to free my Captain of Devas?"

"Oh crap!" I yelped. "I forgot!" I looked around, trying to get my bearings.

My Megas were scattered around, nursing their own wounds, all of them separated into human and digimon pairs and some of them unconscious. I couldn't see the culvert but I could hear a muffled voice calling to me. Sakuyamon gave me a "what's up?" look.

"Kayamon was here," I told her as I tried to find the source of the voice. "I didn't want her to-- ah!" I saw a ragged bit of corrugated steel sticking out of the ground and plunged my hands into the earth and wrenched it up. My little, slightly scorched puff-ball of a child popped out. Sakuyamon gave a small gasp of surprise.

Kiramon glanced around at the devastated landscape and then squeaked angrily, "Father! You made me miss the best fight _ever!_ How could you!"

"But forcing you to choose between your Sovereign and me would have been monstrously unfair! I couldn't--"

"Oh, nonsense!" she peeped at me, "Do you really think I would _ever_ fight against you? Yasuramon knows that. That's why she agreed so quickly! You wouldn't have had to get your butt so seriously trashed if you'd just given me another minute to speak up!"

My tiny, fuzzy daughter was trying so hard to be fierce despite her miniature size and squeaky little voice that I _had_ to laugh. I suppose I shouldn't have. I guess I deserved to have my ankles bitten and her teeth were so small, it didn't hurt much anyway.

I carried her back to Yasuramon, kissed her on the forehead, and put her between the Sovereign's forepaws. "Do me a favor," I said to Yasuramon as I raised the portal spell again, "Don't give her back her Ultimate form until you're back on the other side. I'd hate to get beaten up by my own kid!"

When they were gone, Sakuyamon and I attended to our crew, giving them as much healing energy as we could muster. It was a miracle that we hadn't lost any of them.

As I rose from Gabumon's side, I sensed a digimon approaching-- a Mega-- a _familiar_ Mega. It was Paladinmon.

He landed beside me and went to one knee while simultaneously bowing. (Good trick, that.) He looked up and I could see regret and longing in his eyes. "What a glorious battle, m'lord! I would have given anything to have fought at your side!"

"Uh--" I was confused. "But you-- _left_."

It was his turn to look confused. "As you ordered' m'lord," he said and held up an SMU as if it were some sort of explanation.

"Am I missing something here?"

"The battle!" Paladinmon said earnestly, "I recorded and transmitted it all, as you commanded."

"Wait just a minute," I frowned. "I never ordered you to--"

"But you did!" he protested, growing concerned. "You spoke into my mind and only a Sovereign can do that!"

The light went on. "Is that thing still on?" I asked Paladinmon in a whisper.

"No, I turned it off when--"

"HOLY SUPPERATING TESLA!" I screamed. "I'VE BEEN _PLAYED!"_

Everyone had frozen where they were and were staring at me.

"That slinking, evil, conniving, courageous, _wonderful_ _bitch!"_ I hooted and danced a few exuberant steps, kicking soot into the air.

"Um-- lover?" Sakuyamon asked me with concern in her voice. "Is there something you should tell us?"

"No-- no," I said quietly, trying to calm myself down. "Not here-- we've got to play it cool until we know there aren't any cameras on us."

With Paladinmon's help we got most of our crew fit to travel. I called up a swarm of digignomes to carry the ones who still couldn't biomerge and we began to fly slowly Westward. From the air the battlefield looked like a giant blackened crater, rays of destroyed ground stretching outward from it for miles.

It was beautiful.

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**Author's Note:**

**Quick update? Yeah, well that's what happens when my brain wakes me up at 4:30am and tells me I have to write the next chapter **_**right now!**_

**No point in arguing-- my brain has a mind of it's own. ;)**

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	18. The Final Solution

Chapter 18  
The Final Solution

Yasuramon had done exactly what she said she'd do-- _without_ having to flatten a city. The battle of the Sovereigns at Ground Zero showed the human world exactly how much power a few Mega-level digimon could unleash and it scared the piss out of almost everybody. But it also showed them that there were digimon who were willing to sacrifice their lives to keep the people of Earth free and safe from the abuse of that sort of power.

It was so simple a formula that even the most knuckle-dragging media pundits could understand it: Kill off the Earth's digimon Protectors and there would be no protection from the _real_ nightmares.

I wasn't so naïve that I believed that the hard-core fanatics in the Pure Earth Society would be deterred by Yasuramon's version of Mutually Assured Destruction, but they couldn't operate in a vacuum. They needed the support and cooperation of people who weren't completely nuts-- and after the little demonstration that left several square miles of Southern Colorado burnt to a cinder-- they weren't likely to get it.

We got the crew settled in back on Black Mesa. The PES was still out there and even though Yasuramon had cut the legs out from under them, they might still have a few attacks in the works. We had to remain vigilant.

I was consoling Geddy and White Pawn Chessmon about not taking part in the battle when Sakuyamon found me. "You played the critical part there today," I told them, "even if it wasn't _my_ orders that you were following. I'll take you to the Digital Dimension sometime and we'll kick the snot out of some bad guys-- that'll cheer you up!"

"The news feeds are carrying a list of the digimon who fought there today," Sakuyamon said as she walked up to where we were sitting on the arroyo's edge. "Your name is rightfully on that list."

"I guess--" Geddy said wistfully. "But it still would have been nice to get a few punches in."

"Do you mind if I steal the Grand High Digital Mucky-Muck away from you?" Sakuyamon asked him with a smile.

"Of course not, Sakuya-sama!" He leaped to his feet and bowed. I sighed and made a mental note to hammer some disrespect into the kid. Now that I had been outed as Sovereign of Earth, I had a feeling that I was going to get more bowing and scraping than I could stand.

-o--()--o-

We flew a little ways North. There was someplace I'd always wanted to show Renamon but we had never seemed to get the time. Now that Rika was with us, it was the perfect moment.

I brought us in low, around the shoulder of a big mesa so that the whole vista would appear all at once. The gasp of surprise from Sakuyamon was gratifying.

The setting sun turned the towering spires of Monument Valley a deep red against the darkening purple of the Eastern sky. The fingers of red stone reaching for the sky were so bizarre and beautiful that they looked more like something you'd expect to find in the Digital World than in the real one.

"It's wonderful!" Sakuyamon breathed.

We flew among the astonishing buttes and spires, enjoying the majestic landscape until the evening turned to night, then we landed on the top of Rain God Mesa and watched the stars come out.

"Did I remember to thank you for saving my life today?" I asked as we snuggled together.

"Did I really?" Sakuyamon smiled up at me. "Yasuramon was putting on a show. Would she actually have killed you?"

"I don't know," I said. "She didn't seem to be holding back at all and she sacrificed all those Devas of hers. Her MAD plan would work whichever way the fight ended."

"But she loves you-- in her own twisted way. And she _must_ have felt me coming-- I was so angry. Oh, I don't know-- I suppose it doesn't matter now. She helped us out enormously but I'll never fully trust her." Sakuyamon chuckled quietly. "Not that I ever _did_."

"Okay, then-- have I told you how _beautiful_ you are today? I know, on some level, that I really shouldn't have enjoyed it-- but the sight of you tearing into Yasuramon was just-- _magnificent!"_

She turned in my arms and pressed herself closer to me. "You weren't so bad yourself, fuzzy-pants."

"Ha! By the time you showed up I was a stumbling, battered wreck!"

"Mm," she agreed, "but I watched the vid later and--"

"And?"

"When you reared up and roared at her-- when the lightning flashed in your wings-- I--" she hugged me tighter and put her head on my chest.

I stroked her back, following her sweet curves as far as I could reach, savoring the taut flesh beneath the black silk. "Yes?" I prompted.

She bit me. Nicely. Okay, _not_ nicely-- but in a way that got the message across loud and clear.

Sometimes the loveplay between Renamon and I got pretty rough but we were digimon, after all-- and beast types, at that. With Rika I'd always been very careful to only be as forceful as was enjoyable for a relatively delicate human woman. With Sakuyamon-- I guess I'd made the mistake of viewing her as more human-- more reserved, I guess. Our wonderful afternoon on the mountaintop in Japan had been almost exclusively an energy exchange.

Well, that night on the mesa, she proved to me that she was anything _but_ reserved. She was a digimon-- an extremely _powerful_ digimon who reveled in the strength and wildness of her partner. We _attacked_ each other.

Somewhere in there I resumed my Sovereign form and the size difference between us only added to our pleasure. Lightning flashed and thunder roared from a clear night sky.

-o--()--o-

The sky in the East was warming with false dawn and Sakuyamon and I were tangled together, just lazily gnawing on each other, when my SMU bleated for attention. I pulled it out and made as if to throw it over the edge of the mesa. Sakuyamon stopped me.

"We have responsibilities, lover."

"I suppose," I groaned. I looked at the screen and saw three mid-level messages waiting from Takato, Watanabe and Mr. Wong-- nothing flashing a red "emergency" icon, thank Tesla.

In fact, it was all good news. Yasuramon's plan seemed to have worked better than we could have hoped for. The horror of what had almost happened in New York combined with the images of digimon fighting desperately to save a city full of people when it was obviously a hopeless cause, turned public opinion solidly in our favor. The PES had nearly destroyed the world, and we had nearly died defending it. There wasn't much leeway to "spin" a story like that.

The leadership of PES was no longer safe. Their CEO was beaten to death by one of his own security men and a member of the board of directors barely escaped death by hedge-trimmer at the hands of his gardener. Within three days nearly all of the PES officers had turned themselves in to be placed in protective custody.

There were still a lot of PES followers out there, but without coordination from the top and with nearly everyone in the world turned against them, they weren't the threat they had once been.

The Digimon Killer was still a problem, though. With a well-equipped machine shop and a good bit of computer know-how, darned near _anyone_ could build one of the small ones and if they didn't concentrate their fire the chances of deleting chunks of the world was negligible-- a perfectly acceptable risk in the minds of _some_ people.

Weirdly enough, it was _Beelzemon_ who came up with the solution to that threat.

It was just after Watanabe's last press conference. He made a long speech about how the future of Earth lay in the hands of both humans _and_ digimon. (The vid clip of Sakuyamon saying, "_I_ am the _future!"_ had gone viral-- there were posters, shirts, and buildings looping it over and over damned near everywhere.) Then he announced that he was resigning his position as Minister for Digital Affairs to take on the job of Japan's ambassador to the Southern Digital Realm.

I'll bet that came as a big surprise to the Prime Minister-- I'd neglected to tell him about it. But it wasn't much of a real job, anyway-- just part of the reward I'd promised Watanabe and an excuse to make his 'transition' a public one.

I spoke a few words-- just saying that the Digital Dimension was a dangerous place for humans and that the new ambassador had agreed to certain "adjustments" to help him fit in better in his new job. Then I whistled for my digignomes. They swarmed into the studio, swirling around Watanabe and concealing him from view. I poured Sovereign energy into the mass and it all dissolved into sparkling particles, revealing a new figure where Minister Watanabe had stood.

The reporters went nuts. Even some of the studio crew couldn't keep from exclaiming out loud. Exveemon are a pretty damned impressive digimon type and I'd made sure Watanabe had become a superior specimen. I draped an arm over his muscular shoulders and whispered into his ear from the corner of my mouth as we posed for a few last pictures, "There you go pal! Now you're the sort who _would_ attract a gal like Sakuyamon-- the rest is up to you."

I whipped up a Dimensional Portal and that was the end of that.

I was sick of questions, sick of people being so weird-assed around me now that they knew I was a Sovereign, and sick of having to scan for kilometers around everywhere I went on the off-chance that some nutjob with a DK was lurking within line-of-sight. I needed a day off and so did the rest of the gang. We decided a picnic and sleepover on our little island would be perfect. We invited everyone we could think of-- even flew Marine Angemon, Kenta, and his boyfriend out from San Francisco.

The Ultimates I called in to guard the island while we were on it saw the duty as a great honor. We had about twice as many volunteers as we needed. I made Paladinmon's day by sparring with him on the beach and praising his fighting style. He really _was_ pretty damned good-- just needed some polish and experience.

I also gave various abilities and Deva powers to the Megas who had accompanied Sakuyamon and I to America. They'd certainly earned it.

We invited Beelzemon because-- well-- it really isn't a picnic without ants, is it? He and Liesel got into shouting match about five minutes after they'd met each other. I separated them and drug Beelzeboy off down the beach. "Dude! You _so_ don't want to mess with that little girl! I think she brought a couple of rocket launchers with her!"

"Fah!" he spat, "Doesn't bother _me_-- dumb-ass goth-girl should watch her mouth--"

"I wouldn't go pointing the 'goth' finger at anybody if I was you, Mr. Demon in Black Leather."

He ignored my remark. "Did ya bring any booze to this party? I think I'm gonna need some." He glared at his surroundings. A beach party didn't exactly fit in with his biker mentality. "No-- I'm gonna need a _lot!"_

I pulled a bottle of ten-year-old shochu out of my jacket. "Knock yourself out!" I told him.

"Alright!" he said, grabbing the bottle with one hand and fishing out one of his foul cigars with the other. "_Now_ it's a party!" He looked around for a second and realized that he'd left Behemoth, his ride and overkill cigar lighter, back on the mainland. I flicked a particle of Fang Flurry energy onto the cigar's end and Beelzemon puffed contentedly.

But that got me to thinking. "You know I tricked out Takato's ride a bit. A little digignome infusion and--"

"Izzat so? Big bad minivan gonna give Behemoth some competition?" he sneered.

"Like Takato would _want_ a monster like that! No, it's just a safer vehicle now. One that can actually think in a limited way and--"

"Oh come on! _Safe?_ Who wants that sissy crap? If you stuffed digignomes in every damned car on the planet, there still wouldn't be a single one as bad-assed as my Behemoth!" He rasped out his grating laugh. "Next thing you'll tell me is that you're gonna stuff a digignome in all the copiers and printers so people don't get paper cuts! Safe? To hell with _that _noise!"

I froze. Beelzemon chuckled and walked off, no doubt thinking he had crushed me with his unassailable logic.

Digignomes. Every car-- every printer-- every _stapler_. Was it crazy? I was the wrong digimon to ask _that_ question. But I knew there would be a thousand reasons why I _shouldn't._ Takato would tell me about the political havoc it would wreak and Henry would give me all the ways it would upset the balance of nature or science or something like that. I had no doubt that _everyone_ would tell me what was wrong with the idea and eventually talk me out of it.

That's why I didn't tell them.

I was going to go pound ol' Beelzemon on the back and give him another bottle for sparking the idea but I saw that he was talking quietly with a tall, powerful digimon in the distance. Sekhmon's long, tufted tail was slowly waving to and fro in a calm sweep across the sand. The golden sun-disk that floated behind her lioness head was quiescent, reflecting only the light of the campfire. There was no way I was going to interrupt _that_ conversation.

It took a while to figure out how to get the digignomes to be self-implanting but I finally did it. That was the one hurdle I needed to clear. If I had to place every digignome myself, it would have taken-- well, _forever._

I called a huge cloud of the little guys to the far side of the island and programmed them-- okay, _explained_ to them what I wanted them to do. They fled across the ocean.

When I got back to the fire, the party had quieted down. I did a double-take when I saw Jeri, Takato, Elecmon, Guilmon, and _Impmon_ all sitting together.

_What a night!_ I thought.

Rika gave me a questioning look as I strolled up. I smiled back at her.

"Oh _god_, flea-bag," she sighed, "what were you up to?"

I sputtered a bit.

"And don't say 'nothing'! I can read you like a book," she told me.

So I just grinned at her and told her the truth. "I was changing the world," I said.


	19. The Nightmare Year

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**If you're looking for more good stories with renamon in them, go read **_**Omegamon's Awakening**_** by A Dragon Knight, **_**Karen can Laugh?**_** by Tab is Neat, and **_**Reality**_** by NKC. And if you're reading all of those stories already-- go write one of your own! **

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

Chapter 19  
The Nightmare Year

They called it the Nightmare Year but not until after it was over. Frikkin' media hacks. It wasn't _that_ bad. Well-- not for _most_ people.

I had been so smug and self-satisfied that night on the island that the concerned reactions of the others didn't phase me. I _knew_ it would all work out okay. Change is good, right? That's what everybody says-- _right?_ Henry pointed out that there's a special kind of math for calculating sudden changes-- it's called "disaster" math. Good name, as it turns out.

In the breathing space Yasuramon had given us, the digignomes spread out over the world. They couldn't come through from the Digital Dimension fast enough to infest every sophisticated piece of machinery on the planet all at once, so I'd given them a set of priorities: Weapons first. Anything that could kill digimon-- and that included nukes, MOABs, depleted uranium shells, EMP generators, and other stuff as well as DK weapons.

DK weapons fell apart when fired, often electrocuting their operators. DK factories imploded. Strategic missiles collapsed in their silos. Tank-killer shells turned into wads of dog poop as soon as they'd left the barrel. (I thought that was a nice touch.)

With the world so unstable and dangerous you'd think people would have been overjoyed to have the possibility a major war or nuclear holocaust eliminated from their lives.

They screamed like I'd eaten their children.

But the other stuff was worse. The vehicles were what drove _everyone_ insane. _Drove_-- heh.

When cars and trucks became self-repairing, nobody needed to buy new ones or employ mechanics anymore, When they stopped using petroleum fuel, the world-wide oil industry collapsed. Tens of millions of people lost their jobs. Sure cleared up the air, though.

And after the first wonderful days, the drivers themselves started to get mad. When they wanted to drive too fast on a rain-slick road or whip through heavy traffic after their tenth beer at the local bar, their cars wouldn't _let_ them. The vehicles drove them carefully and safely to their destinations, allowing no dangerous interference from their owners. People tried things like attacking them with sledgehammers but watching the dents pop back out and the windshields reform just made them angrier. Quite a few even tried to build DK weapons to shoot their cars with.

It was chaos-- and kind of _fun_, actually. But I never said that out loud, of course.

Sakuyamon, the others, and I traveled the world, helping smooth things out where we could. I got hoards of plant-type digimon to cross over from the Digital Dimension to guide and encourage food crops (normal and exotic) to grow darned near everywhere. At least the legions of unemployed people wouldn't starve. People complained that the fruit of the hamburger bushes didn't taste quite like the real thing-- but they ate it anyway.

Kayamon volunteered herself as a watchdog of sorts. All the big weapons in the world couldn't be tamed at once and it seemed like there were some governments that couldn't resist using their Big Bangs before they lost them. I suppose I let her play with them because I felt guilty about cutting her out of the big fight in Colorado-- though, I have to admit, watching her sink the Chinese battleships that were on their way to shell Japan was just amazingly good fun. I don't know if the Chinese sailors felt more sympathetic toward digimon after getting rides to shore on various aquatic types or not.

We showed people how to "convince" their equipment into doing what they wanted. Some clever mechanics realized that if they tricked out their vehicles to look more sporty, the cars would just naturally _feel_ like going faster. It was still nearly impossible to get them to crash-- but you can't have everything. Soon everyone figured out how to nudge their machines into cooperating.

Every time a new problem cropped up, the gang would put their heads together and figure out a way to solve it. To their credit, they only complained about me being an impulsive, thoughtless idiot a few hundred times.

Despite our best efforts a lot of bad stuff happened. What stunned me most was the suicides. Were the changes so awful that people would kill themselves (and others) rather than go through them? Evidently so. There were even some religious leaders who _encouraged_ their followers to kill themselves. Their digignome-infested studio equipment quickly stopped transmitting their insane drivel and showed pictures of baskets full of puppies with soothing background music instead, but the seeds had been sown and uncounted numbers of people died at their own hands-- and at the hands of their so-called loved ones.

Kayamon couldn't understand why we were all so disturbed by the suicides. "So these humans actually deleted _themselves?_ They must have been defective in some way. What's the loss?" It was no use trying to explain it to her.

Jeri was disappointed that I didn't try to put a stop to war of _any_ sort but I felt that would be going too far. If two armies took the field against each other willingly, I was more than happy to let them slug it out. They'd have to do it with fairly limited weapons, though. And not being able to invade places that didn't _want_ to play sort of made it pointless but when did _that_ ever stop people?

Gradually, over the course of a year, things got better and more stable. Most people managed to get along well enough and some smart people figured out how to thrive in the changed world. Jobs and skills were invented that hadn't even been _conceivable_ before the change.

Quite a lot of people not only adapted to the new world but actually began to like it _more_ than the old one. But there were some that didn't. And they held _grudges_.

-o--()--o-

Sakuyamon and I strolled across the top of Rain God Mesa again. The place held wonderful memories for us and when things finally settled down enough for us to have some time to ourselves, she suggested we return there. We did so exactly one year from the day of the battle at Ground Zero.

I'd secretly had some digignomes prepare the place. The whole top of the mesa was covered with blooming cherry trees. There were pools of diamond-clear water full of koi connected by tiny rippling streams. At the very center was an open pavilion containing a low central platform covered with cushions. Candles along the walls flickered in the gentle evening breeze.

"I thought maybe we could have a slightly more _romantic_ evening than the last time we were here," I told her as she wandered, wide-eyed among the trees. "But if you'd _prefer_ to flatten some cherry trees--"

The expression on her face as she turned to look at me made all the planning worth the effort a thousand times over.

And, _of course_, we were interrupted.

A digital field formed over the mesa top. There were only a handful of digimon who would dare to intrude on us in that place. I was betting on Kayamon but it was Ryo and his partner biomerged into Justimon who emerged from the mist. We hadn't seen him in nearly a year. He'd been running around the Earth helping out with things just as we had but he worked on his own. If he'd had any contact with anyone else in our group, I hadn't heard about it. About two months previously he had crossed over to the Digital Dimension and nobody had heard of him since then.

He looked around at the garden in disdain for a moment before speaking to me. He ignored Sakuyamon entirely.

"Looks like you're doing pretty well," he said quietly. "Too bad the same can't be said of a lot of people."

I didn't say anything for a moment. I didn't think he had made the trans-dimensional journey just to lay a guilt-trip on me and there was no way in hell I was going to defend my actions to him, anyway.

"How're _you_ doing, Ryo?" I finally asked. I deliberately addressed only his human half. I never had much use for Cyberdramon. No sense of humor, that one.

"You've really pissed off a lot of powerful people, Coyomon," he said, using my Rookie name back at me.

I shrugged. "That's news?"

He looked off across the desert for a long while. Sakuyamon stepped to my side and slid her hand into mine. Justimon noticed the motion even though he was facing away from us. He frowned slightly even though I'm sure he didn't mean to betray any emotion.

"I've been offered fifty million US dollars to kill you," he told me off-handedly.

"No shit?"

"No shit," he said flatly, still gazing out across the valley. "They said they'd double it if I could find some way to reverse the changes you've made. I think it's the Chinese, though they used middlemen, of course. Might be someone else."

Even with all the bad blood between us, I didn't believe for an instant that Ryo would consider the offer. He was a complete Good Guy. But I just couldn't resist needling him.

"What're you going to do with the money? Buy a yacht?"

He ignored my jab. I hoped that Cyberdramon's grimness wasn't rubbing off on him. "Just thought you'd like to know that someone's very serious about knocking you off."

I wasn't concerned in the slightest, even though I _should_ have been, but it was a nice gesture on his part-- even though his timing was lousy. "Thanks, Justimon, I appreciate it."

He nodded and leaped off the side of the mesa, falling until he was only a few yards above the desert surface before flying away at top speed.

"I feel bad for him," I said without thinking. "If _I_ ever lost you to someone else--" I shuddered at the mere thought.

"There's no chance of _that_, fuzzy-pants," Sakuyamon told me, hugging my arm tightly. "And now that we're alone again--"

"Ah, yes," I smiled and kissed her upturned lips. "Candlelight and cushions-- or making firewood?" I waggled my eyebrows in what I was confident was an irresistibly roguish manner.

"Actually," she said somewhat shyly, "I had something-- _different_ in mind."

-o--()--o-

Renamon and I had never planned on having Kayamon. Hell, we didn't even know it was _possible_ before we created her egg together. As far as we knew, most digieggs were created spontaneously to keep the population of the Digital Dimension fairly constant. But we'd never forgotten the day it happened or how wonderful it had felt.

Ever since then we hadn't felt any pressing reason to create another child. And if I'm totally honest about it, Kayamon can be pretty damn scary sometimes. What if our second child was _worse?_

Okay, I put that badly. I _love_ my daughter. I love and treasure her so much that there's no way I can adequately express it. But she really _is_ a monster's monster and we created her when we were only relatively weak Champions. As powerful as we both had become, the possibility of unleashing a stronger and less restrained digimon was something that couldn't be taken lightly. Renamon and I had never had an explicit conversation on the subject but we knew we were both content to leave things as they were.

Rika had other ideas.

As a human, there was no way she'd be able to have a child by me. I had bits and bytes inside of me, not DNA. My false proteins were about as complex as tapioca pudding. But as Sakuyamon, Rika was mostly digital. Her human DNA code melded with Renamon's digital structure to define their Mega form. It was just possible that we _could_ make a child together that would be a blend of the two-- well, _three_ of us.

And Rika wanted to try.

I could refuse that woman nothing.

We started slowly and gently but it seemed that, because there was a purpose behind our lovemaking, we couldn't keep our passions in control. Our ecstatic coupling grew ever more energetic and unrestrained until we were a living storm that raged on the mountaintop-- a display that was even more spectacular than the one a year before.

The wreckage that scattered across the desert must have puzzled the heck out of the tourists and Navajo shepherds who found it in the morning. Shattered wood (some of it cut and lacquered red), drifts of cherry blossoms, burst cushions, whole roasted fish, and bits of melted, scented candles weren't things people normally found lying around in the desert. Not in the Real World, at any rate.

But although we'd channeled enough energy to light Tokyo for a month, and had had the most incredible sensual experience of our lives, we hadn't succeeded in producing an egg.

It was hard to be sad about it. We both thought we would have plenty of time to try again. I was sure that, with my Sovereign powers, I could certainly manage to give Rika a child sooner or later. I never suspected that within less than a day, Earth wouldn't _have_ a Sovereign.


	20. Funeral for a Sovereign

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**I just got a new piece of artwork! Rika and Coyomon this time. Link on my bio page. It's very sweet-- quite a contrast with the grimness in this chapter.**

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

Chapter 20  
Funeral for a Sovereign

Tokyo had changed a great deal that year. New buildings were everywhere and most of the old ones had been modified in some way. There were even a few skyscrapers that had been built-- or maybe _grown_ was a more accurate word-- entirely by digimon. Whole areas of the city seemed unfamiliar to me-- I suppose that's why I didn't spot the DK weapon until it was too late.

I assumed that all the Digimon Killers had been destroyed months before and with digignomes nearly everywhere, nobody could attempt to build one without being noticed and stopped.

But there was one last one.

Sakuyamon and I flew over the city when we returned from America. We took a winding route, sightseeing in our own home town-- which is what saved us from instant annihilation. We didn't approach Rika's apartment right away and I suppose the weapon's crew got nervous and thought we might have become suspicious. They sprung their trap a moment too soon. From the roof of a skyscraper three blocks from Rika's penthouse, the craft's engines surged to life but it wasn't until the generators poured energy into the DK coils that I realized what was going on.

My skin didn't just crawl, it _burned_. The thin sheet metal walls and charged metal mesh that surrounded and disguised the lifter exploded outwards and the ducted fans of the aircraft roared, lifting and turning it in our direction. The beam had only swung a few degrees toward us when my instinctive Destroying Blade attack slammed into the lifter-- and vanished in a white flare, without any apparent effect on the aircraft.

The whole surface of the craft crawled with DK energy. Sakuyamon's own attack spattered off its charged surface and then we dodged behind a building for cover.

"We can't hurt it!" I yelled to Sakuyamon as I dove for street level. "We've got to--"

Sakuyamon hit the sidewalk and separated into Rika and Renamon. Rika was screaming at her partner. "No you don't! Renamon, don't you _dare_ leave me!"

Renamon ignored her and leaped up the side of the building. I knew instantly what she was doing. The killers were after us-- _digimon_. If we lead them away from Rika, she'd be safe. _Furious_, but safe.

I turned upward again, intending to show myself for a brief moment and then turn away in the opposite direction. I'd just gotten vertical when the aircraft swung around the side of the building, its terrible beam blazing.

It all happened in an instant. The crew were firing blindly, sweeping the beam across the street before they could even be sure of our location, hoping for a lucky shot. Renamon and I were up high-- the only one at street level was Rika.

I was too slow-- too _stupid_. We couldn't touch the damned thing and our attacks had no effect but-- maybe something made of _real_ matter? If I had only realized that a moment earlier-- or been faster-- or-- but I didn't-- I wasn't.

I saw the beam wash over Rika as she ran, still yelling at Renamon to come back. The flash of her digital web disintegrating was so bright it made her flesh glow from within for an instant. She fell like a marionette with its strings cut, tumbling bonelessly onto the pavement.

I tore the cross arm off a traffic signal pole and threw it with all my strength at the attacking aircraft. The crew had seen Renamon and were swinging around to aim at her. She had seen what had happened to Rika and was rushing to her side, heedless of her own safety.

The DK beam got within a few meters of her before the cross arm tore through the center of the lifter, spewing shrapnel and gobs of molten metal into the air. Renamon landed next to her tamer and bent over her motionless form, sheltering Rika from the burning debris with her own body. The beam flickered and went out, the glow of DK energy leaving the thousands of tiny coils that covered the aircraft's surface as it spun into the street.

The main body of the aircraft smashed into the asphalt between us and rolled over once, spraying tangles of wire and ceramic. One of the crew members in the cockpit was torn and broken-- certainly dead-- but the other was weakly struggling to free himself from his flight harness. I leaped the wreckage and rushed to Rika's side.

Renamon was desperately pouring healing energy into Rika's body in a futile effort to save her tamer's life but there was no longer any digiweb to receive it. The beam had missed Rika's head, neck, and one shoulder but the rest of her was a dead mass of cooked meat. Rika's heart had stopped and her bioenergy was fading quickly.

Digignomes swarmed around us as I frantically tried to do something that would save Rika. There were only seconds before she would be beyond help. Her horribly burned body couldn't withstand the infusion of a new diginet and in any case there would be no pattern for it to rebuild her with.

Dozens of digimon had rushed to the scene when they felt the sting of the DK energy and they formed a crowd surrounding us-- all just as horrified and helpless as I was. I tried to transform Rika into a digimon the way I'd done with Watanabe but the digignomes couldn't even recognize her ruined form as something to convert to digital pseudo-matter. By the time I could get what I wanted across to them, she'd be dead.

There was only one thing I could think of. It was a preprogrammed, transformative energy packet. A digital construct that I carried with me everywhere-- something that might work-- or might kill me as well. But there was nothing else left for me to try.

I took Rika's head in one hand and held it up as I lowered my head until my muzzle lay alongside her cheek. I grew the claw on the index finger of my other hand until it was a long, sharp spike and I placed it directly on the center of my own forehead.

"I love you," I whispered into Rika's ear-- and then jammed the claw into my skull, digging for the Sovereign Spark. Through the bright agony, I held an image of the Rika I knew in my mind, the beautiful, strong young woman who I loved with all my heart. My claw found the Spark-- I hooked it out at the same time as I pressed my forehead against hers-- and the world disappeared in a flash of fire.

-o--()--o-

**OUR GUARDIAN GODDESS SLAIN!**

**RIKA NONAKA AND YEII COYOMON KILLED IN AMBUSH**

**LAST GASP OF THE PURE EARTH SOCIETY?**

**STATE FUNERAL SERVICE TO BE HELD IN SHINJUKU PARK**

**A NEW SOVEREIGN FOR EARTH?**

**THE YASURAMON THREAT**

Even just the headlines were vastly entertaining but Rika still refused to look at the newsfeeds.

"Oh come on, lover!" I chided her. "This is a hoot! Oh frikkin' Tesla! Somebody's dug up a photo of you in a pink frilly dress! You must have been about thirteen--"

"I _swear_ I'm going to tie your ears in a knot if you don't stop bugging me with that drivel!" Blue fire rippled around Rika's clenched fist and my fur stirred as if a sudden breeze had sprung up.

"Okay, okay--" I soothed her, "I'll turn off the hysteria machine!" I blanked the wall screens but ordered Henry's house AI to print out a bound copy of the top stories for me to go over later.

"Being dead sure makes you grouchy," I said as I stood up. "Are you sure you don't want to come to the funeral? Could be fun."

For an answer, she disappeared in a pulse of phase energy. I shrugged. _I_ thought being dead was _worlds_ of fun.

The blast of transformative energy that had erupted when the Spark sank into Rika's forehead had provided a great cover for Renamon to phase us both away from the scene. At the time she was just concerned about there possibly being another DK attack craft around but the media jumped to an obvious conclusion that worked out perfectly for us.

The image I had held in my mind of her had shaped Rika's Sovereign form. I suppose I _had_ idealized her but it was a bit of a shock to see my rose-colored view made reality. She still looked perfectly human even though she had become a completely digital creature. She was even recognizable as Rika Nonaka-- just taller, more beautiful, stronger, more graceful-- I guess I had idealized her a _lot._

Plus, she now commanded all the powers of a Digital Sovereign-- and I _didn't._

It was one hell of a relief, I can tell you. Looking back, I realized that I'd messed up nearly every damn thing I'd meddled in. I just wasn't _suited_ to being a Sovereign. Well, for that matter, neither was Rika-- but the difference was that she _knew_ it and had no intention of taking up any Sovereign duties. Earth would have to get along without us.

-o--()--o-

Everybody who was anybody (except Rika) was at the funeral. Even ol' What-a-knob made an appearance though I think he was just there to show off his new girlfriend. She was a slinky, feline species of digimon I didn't recognize-- but I sure recognized the _type. Me-yow! _

Renamon and I disguised ourselves as nondescript cogs from the Ministry of Digital Relations and watched from the edge of the crowd.

I loved the eulogies. What a crock of shit! People who hardly knew us told everyone how wonderful and selfless we'd been. Ex-Watanabe pried his girlfriend off his arm long enough to describe what good buddies we'd been and how closely he'd worked with me-- "guiding and advising" me was how he put it-- before the world became aware of who I was. At least his little kitty-cat companion seemed impressed.

Takato kept his speech short and sweet. Which was appropriate because he knew damned well we were still alive. He ended it by saying, "And I have a feeling that they are still out there somewhere, watching over us all."

I snorted so loudly that people near me turned and glared. Renamon patted me on the back and said in her faux old-lady voice, "There, there, dear. Don't cry."

Kayamon arrived during the ceremony to reassure the people that Yasuramon wouldn't carry out her threat of taking over the Earth. "She doesn't think you're worth pissing on, let alone ruling! As long as you pose no threat to the Digital Dimension, she'll let you live!" Hell of a diplomat, my little girl.

The old gang with the addition of a few Megas from our inner circle met at Henry's house afterward.

Renamon resumed her normal form but Rika and I kept ourselves disguised on the off-chance that we were being watched. We were going to have to get used to being incognito for most of the time anyway.

About an hour after the wake really got rolling, my darling daughter appeared with a strange man firmly, and I expect _painfully_, clamped in her jaws. She spat him out on the carpet as the noise of the party died down to a puzzled murmur.

"He's the pilot of the aircraft," she explained. "I finally tracked him down."

Jeri immediately jumped to his defense. "You can't hurt him! Not when he's defenseless! We should turn him over to the police!"

"No," I said as I approached her. "Either way he'd get to be a martyr. I have a _much_ better punishment for him."

Of course, it was Rika who had to actually set it up, me having been demoted to an ordinary old Mega, but she was happy to do so after I had explained my idea to her. We did what probably was the worst thing possible from the pilot's point of view-- we gave him a fanatically loyal digimon partner. A particularly creepy Ice Devimon, to be precise. Ol' Frosty would follow the guy everywhere and keep him safe from any harm-- and horrify and alienate all his old associates, no doubt. Tesla's ravenous eyebrows, I'm _such_ a bastard!

-o--()--o-

We returned to Rika's place after the wake and the four of us (Kayamon had tagged along) settled into a big puppy-pile in the living room.

"What will you do now?" Kayamon asked.

"Whatever we damn well please," Rika said. "There will always be people to rescue--"

"Villains to fight," Renamon added.

"Tricks to play," I contributed.

Kayamon nodded. "Everything is changing so quickly in both worlds. Good warriors will be needed to keep things stable and safe."

"That's right," Rika agreed. "We can train the youngsters, too! Show them what a real tamer and her partners can do!"

"So I'm a partner again? Not a subject of Rika Nonakamon, honest-to-goodness, for-real Digimon Queen?" I smiled.

Her response to my joke was to disentangle herself and go into her bedroom for a moment. The rest of us exchanged puzzled glances. Rika returned carrying a digivice.

"So you've still got Renamon's digivice even though you're a Sovereign now? That's--"

"Look closer, fuzzy-pants," she told me.

I did. The bezel and trim were the wrong color. Renamon's was a rich blue. The one Rika held was a rusty red. _My_ color.

"It-- it broke!" I said. "When I became Sovereign, it shattered. You told me about it-- you _showed_ me the pieces!"

"Yes-- but--" Rika Nonaka, Digital Sovereign, one of the most powerful creatures in existence, became shy and hesitant. "I-- I kept the pieces. I put them in a box and kept them. When I started to go through my things yesterday I looked in the box and-- it was like this. Whole. Do you want to-- does it mean--"

"It means the old team is _together_ again!" I shouted. I jumped up, grabbed Rika, and waltzed her around the room, faster and faster until we collapsed on top of Renamon and Kayamon. The whole squirming mass sorted itself out and I wrapped my arms around my beautiful lovers, one on either side of me. "Oh, the things we're going to do together! The fights, the adventures! The world-- _both_ worlds won't know what hit 'em!"

Rika and Renamon exchanged meaningful glances. Then they pinned me to the floor and bit me. _Hard_.

Kayamon laughed her head off.


	21. Anniversaries

Chapter 21  
Anniversaries

Otaru, Japan 2028

"Tell us how you defeated Pesmon, again!" little Henry shouted.

"Henry, it's past your bedtime," Takato told his son. "And you shouldn't pull on Uncle Coyomon's tail like that. It's very rude."

"Besides," Jeri put in, "you've heard the story a dozen times."

"But I _like_ it!" the little boy protested. "And it's different every time he tells it!"

"What did he add in last time?" Renamon asked.

"Space aliens!" Henry chirped with delight.

Henry and the rest of the kids were put to bed after appropriate promises of future (slightly exaggerated) stories of adventure and the rest of the gang settled in for a quiet evening.

Takato poured out the wine. It was a vintage from grapes grown on the slopes of the Crystal Mountains in the Outer East Realm and tasted like-- well-- like nothing else on Earth. Very nice, actually. The data bits made my tongue tingle.

"Happy twentieth anniversary!" he toasted and we all clinked glasses.

It was twenty years sine we had left Earth for the Digital Dimension to rescue Calumon. We had adopted the day as a holiday-- an excuse to get together and celebrate. That year the party was held at Takato and Jeri's summerhouse on Hokkaido.

We caught up with each other and gossiped about the few of the group that couldn't make the reunion. The past decade had been good for most of us and very good for the Earth in general. I'm always amazed at the adaptability of the human race. They kick and scream about any tiny change in their routines-- but turn the whole world upside down and they seem to deal with it just fine-- eventually_._

Rika and I were still officially dead. There had been a lot of speculation about us possibly being alive but that was taken seriously only by the Bigfoot and UFO crowd. With nearly a billion digimon living on the Earth, it was ridiculously easy to remain unnoticed. A few dozen beings on Earth knew our secret and they had been good at keeping it. Renamon used a false name most of the time and most everyone who met her assumed she was some _other_ renamon. Oh, digimon could _feel _how strong she was even though she still registered as Rookie level on digivices but none of them were dumb enough to ask prying questions of a creature who was so powerful she made their fur stand on end when she got near them.

Our children were scattered across both worlds. Every one had been a surprise and a joy to us. All of them were powerful and a bit wild but none were as fearsome or destructive as we had feared they might be. Ma'iimon had lived in the Southwestern deserts of North America for many years, looking pretty much like a normal coyote and only occasionally interacting with humans or other digimon. I thought it was a strange existence but he always seemed perfectly happy when we visited him. Rokomon and Ciyamon had both taken human tamers. Rokomon's tamer wanted to explore the Digital Dimension and they both seemed perfectly happy to live a vagabond life. Ciyamon's tamer was one of the first humans to try to open up trade between the worlds and the wine we drank that night was one of his successful ideas. Kayamon still served Yasuramon as her Captain of Devas and was the terror and delight of the Southern Realm.

Ryo surprised us all by taking a digimon girlfriend about a year after the PES war. Varyemon was certainly a beauty. She was a fierce fighter and had a wicked sense of humor. Most amazing of all, she seemed to have a mellowing influence on Cyberdramon. He actually smiled on occasion-- _really_-- I have pictures. Ryo and I never became close again but at least we could be gracious and polite toward each other and comfortable in each other's presence.

The Ministry for Digital Relations was no longer in the backwaters of Japanese government. With such a high percentage of the population being digital, it was of central importance, and Takato, as Minister was doing a terrific job of shepherding an amazingly diverse population through a rapidly changing world.

The only real concern I had was that the future looked so good that it promised to be-- well-- _boring._

I needn't have worried about that.

-o--()--o-

The Sea of Brass, South Realm 2048

"Renamon!" I shouted to her. "Get out of there!"

"I'm fine! _Go!"_ she yelled back as she leaped over a mass of the insect-like digimon that were swarming through the steep, winding streets of the seaside village. I shuddered at the sight of the viscous yellow venom that dripped from their mandibles-- but poison was _my_ weakness, not Renamon's. She blasted a courtyard free of the things with a Diamond Storm and then waded into more of them that were packed into a narrow alleyway, her fists and feet blurring into streaks of blue fire as bursts of data began billowing upwards.

Renamon could delay the swarm while the villagers escaped but I needed to find the power behind the bugs or they'd never stop coming.

I phased out and scanned the glittering landscape, tracing the insects back into the tunnels they'd erupted out of. The tubes twisted oddly and merged into an enormous burrow that was beneath the seafloor. Then the whole system of tunnels moved sluggishly and the mystery was explained. There was no burrow. The bugs were an attack phase of a gigantic digimon that was lurking just offshore. The tunnels were tendrils that extended from its bloated body.

_Time to take the fight to the enemy._

I soared out over the ocean and poured energy into my long-bladed spear. When it was blazing and vibrating with power, I flung it downward with all my strength. The golden water hissed into steam as the spear passed through it and disappeared.

For a long moment nothing happened and then the land shook and the sea boiled. The huge mutant Mega reared up, shedding water and sea-bottom gunk and howling like a demented banshee. The houses of the village shook and tilted as the thing's tendrils retracted from beneath them.

I called my spear back to me and banked away from the Mega. It was covered in spines that oozed a stinking yellow slime. I couldn't handle venom on that sort of scale so I'd have to rely solely on distance attacks. I was readying a Destroying Blade attack when Rika spoke into my mind.

_Wouldn't it be more fun to get your claws into it?_ It was an odd remark. Rika _knew_ I was vulnerable to poison, just as Renamon was vulnerable to ice-based attacks.

_Okay-- you want me to go in barehanded against it?_

_Don't be silly. There's something I've been wanting to try. Come to me. I'm on the beach._

She must have called Renamon also because I saw her leaping down the steep rooftops of the village like a staircase as I dropped to the beach. Rika stood on the sand, her long red hair streamed in the breeze as she calmly watched the looming monster surge toward us.

Rika looked the just same as always. She wore what she called her "adventuring clothes", jeans and a denim shirt with a small rucksack over one shoulder and a digivice on each hip. She didn't need the digivices, of course. She could give us modifications with a wave of her hand or just a thought. But the digivices were a universally recognized mark of a tamer and Rika said she'd never dream of being without them. She had often remarked that she'd dig the Sovereign Spark out of her own head sooner than give up being our tamer.

"What's up, Rika?" I asked as I skidded to a stop beside her. It looked like we had about thirty seconds before the big heap of ugly slammed into the beach-- and us.

"Nastiest thing we've faced in years, isn't it?" she asked calmly nodding at the charging monstrosity."We might need something special to defeat it." Renamon landed just behind her and she took a step backward and pulled one of Renamon's hands around her waist. Then she motioned me over to her and did the same with me.

"Uh--," I said as Rika sighed and snuggled into our mutual embrace, "maybe this _isn't_ the best time for a group hug?" My fur was ruffling in the wind caused by the monster's huge bulk pushing air before it.

"The calm before the storm--" Rika murmured quietly and then held up a digivice in each hand, pressed them to her chest, and triggered them. We merged.

The thing spewed clouds of venomous bugs at us. We laughed and swept them into a red haze with a flick of our tail. It flailed its hundreds of poison-spined tendrils at us and we ripped them from its body by the handfuls, the poison hissing harmlessly on our gleaming fur, the spines unable to penetrate its thick strands.

The gigantic claws it had used to dig itself into the seafloor came up and swiped at us. We danced aside and tore great furrows in its arms with our own claws. A spin, a kick, and it crashed back into the sea, pushing a huge wave away from the shore beneath its bulk. We waded after it.

It was a joy to fight such a powerful and brutal foe together as one and when, at last, we sank our fangs into the creature and tore the last bit of life from it, the burst of energy we drank in was sweeter than any wine. Its vintage was victory.

A cheer went up from the watching digimon and humans on the cliff top above the village. We waded ashore and stepped to the pastureland beside the crowd before separating. All three of us were grinning like idiots.

Yamaki stepped forward to thank us. "These things keep creeping in from the outer worlds. They seem to be getting stronger and more aggressive every year. I'm glad you happened to be here. We would have been in big trouble otherwise."

"It was no accident," Rika told him. "We've heard so many good things about the place that we all decided to hold our anniversary party here this year. The three of us just came early to get things ready. It's a beautiful little community you've created--" She glanced down the steep path at the tumbled and broken houses. "Oh-- I guess I should do a little clean-up for you." She summoned a cloud of digignomes who swept down over the village, repairing the damage that the fighting had done.

"I wish there was some way we could properly thank you," Riley said.

Rika shook her head. "There's no need. That fight was-- was its own reward." Now _there_ was an understatement for you! Why hadn't she told us we could merge like that?

It was a good party-- one of the best. Tents and pavilions spread over the big meadow nearly to the edge of the forest and damn near everybody we knew as well as the whole village attended. Forty years since humans had first ventured into the Digital Dimension and not many of our friends were showing their age. Well, with diginets to keep human bodies in constant and perfect repair or the option of freezing oneself at a particular age by "retiring" to a world in the Digital Dimension, who would _want_ to get all old and wrinkly?

We ate and drank and circulated and talked and drank and danced and sang and drank and just had one hell of a good time.

Mid-way through the evening I propositioned Riley just to fluster her a bit and got a hell of a surprise.

"I think I'd like that," she smiled at me. "There's a quiet little grove in the woods not far from here--"

"Whoa! Wait! You mean you--"

"Sure," she said quietly, stepping closer to me and twirling a finger in my ruff. "I won't tell anyone if you won't--"

"No wait!" I said, suddenly realizing the mess I was about to get into. I grabbed Riley's shoulders and pushed her away from me. "I was just kidding! You're beautiful-- and I'd _love_ to-- but-- I-- ah--"

Riley burst out laughing. "Oh my! Rika was right! That's the perfect way to stop you in your tracks-- _fuzzy-pants!"_ She turned, still laughing, and went off in search of her husband.

I cursed under my breath for a while and then stomped off toward the food stalls. _Women!_

I ran into Liesel's Gazimon at the yakitori booth. True to his type, he was shoveling it down with a will.

"Where's your tamer?" I asked him.

"Murfer fere!" he sputtered around a gigantic mouthful of barbecued chicken.

I waited until he'd swallowed and then asked him again.

"She took off with the big demon for a ride on his motorcycle," he said, grabbing up another handful of chicken skewers. "Over that way." He flung out a hand carelessly indicating some direction vaguely away from the village.

"With Beelzemon? Really?" It was a day for firsts, all right.

"Yff," Gazimon nodded, "Fee fed ffeyd bff bkk un ahf ffr uh ffoo."

"No kidding?" I said as I grabbed a few skewers and headed for the bar.

I ran into Yoko and Renamon as I was finishing my snack. They were talking quietly near one of the bonfires where people were playing music. A group of gomamon were keeping up a complicated rhythm by clapping their front flippers together in time to the music. I handed my last bit of yakitori to Kudomon where he lay comfortably curled around Yoko's neck.

"Renamon was just telling me about your fight," Yoko said. "It sounds like it was exciting."

"It was frikkin' awesome is what it was!" I told her enthusiastically.

"Fighting one of those creepy new mutants that seem to be spawning out on the edges of the remote worlds-- not knowing what it might be capable of--" Yoko grinned. "Yeah, that _does _sound like fun!"

A sudden idea struck me. "Hey, you took a look around the village when you got here this afternoon. What do you think of it? Would you like to spend some time here?" I rushed on before she could answer. "Because they really need a Protector here. They're close enough to the Outer Edge that new creepies can turn up almost without warning and having a resident Mega to look out for them--"

I didn't have to finish. Yoko's eyes were gleaming just at the thought of it and Kudomon had raised his head in immediate interest.

I grinned. "I'll introduce you to 'Mayor' Yamaki and you two can talk it over."

-o--()--o-

Tokyo, Japan 2108

Some things never change. A gaggle of schoolgirls drifted by me where I lounged on a bench waiting for my ladies to finish their shopping. The girls whispered and giggled behind their hands and stole glances at me. Aside from the change in their uniforms and the fashionable elf-ears they all had, they could have stepped right out of early last century.

I leered evilly at them and flattened and extended my ears in imitation of their own. They burst into laughter and scurried away.

They all knew who I was. Our little ruse had successfully lasted almost sixty years, time enough for people to mostly stop caring. Oh, there was a big flurry of attention when it finally came out that Rika and I were still alive but the interest was more of a subdued sort by then. There were enough high-level digimon around to make us seem like nothing special, I guess. Earth didn't really _need_ a Digital Sovereign anymore.

Our hundredth anniversary was a fairly big event, though. Takato insisted that we let everyone enjoy it as a "landmark of historical significance". _Bleah._

It was to be held in the Tokyo Megadome. Aside from the usual guests, all sorts of celebrities and politicians and "important" people were going to attend. There were going to be speeches, for Tesla's sake!

Rika and Renamon could have instantly whipped up any sort of clothing they cared to for the big party but they insisted that it would be more fun to search out clothes and jewelry from among the shops in Tokyo's fashion district.

After the tenth dress shop, I begged off and went to Ueno Park to catch some sun and people-watch.

I leaned back and squinted up at the sky. I could make out a few of the orbiting starships that were growing up there. Hive-type digimon, they were, with mixed crews all eager to set off into the vast unknown. Rokomon was aboard one of them with his tamer. Their ship would be leaving in a few days and we'd already said our good-byes. The chances that we'd ever see each other again were slim-- but you never know. What he was doing took a hell of a lot of guts and I was proud of him.

The Digital Dimension had invented its own version of the great exploration ships. It was discovered that if new worlds were created small enough, they could be separated from the rest of the Digital Dimension and sent off-- somewhere else. Nobody knew if there was anything else out there in the infinite noise of digitalspace but there were a lot of people who had gone off to find out. None of them had found anything yet but only a few of the miniworlds had returned so far.

The blending of human and digimon cultures seemed to be capable of creating an infinite amount of new arts, sports, and pastimes. There were no signs of the century-long flurry of creativity slowing down anytime in the foreseeable future.

The mutants were still a problem. With dying going out of style, the population of the Digital Dimension was growing like mad and it was expanding to accommodate everyone. The distant peripheral worlds got pretty weird sometimes and that seemed to lead to spontaneous creation of new digimon types-- not usually of the cute and fluffy variety. The bigger the Digital Dimension got, the more mutants showed up. The new types even found their way to Earth sometimes so the position of Protector was a formal and very important one at the turn of the 22nd century. The Earth was divided into patrol districts and careful watch was kept on all large bursts of digital energy. The fights were broadcast worldwide, of course.

Unsurprisingly, the Digital Dimension was less structured but "Protector" was still a respected title and nearly every village had one. The cities had several each.

Fortunately for me, my only duty was to keep my lovers happy and entertained and occasionally merge with them to kick the ass of some Lovecraftian horror.

It's a tough job-- but somebody's got to do it.

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you for reading.**

**Remember there are many more good digimon stories out there! If you haven't yet, give these ones a try:**

_**Omegamon's Awakening**_** by A Dragon Knight**

_**Terry is a Tamer? **_**and**_** Karen can Laugh?**_** by Tab is Neat**

_**Reality**_** by NKC**

**--oOo--oOo--oOo--oOo--**


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